{"id":5032,"date":"2026-11-10T20:13:43","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T04:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/?p=5032"},"modified":"2026-11-10T20:13:43","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T04:13:43","slug":"a-giant-gummybear-with-a-mugshot-only-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/a-giant-gummybear-with-a-mugshot-only-in-nyc\/","title":{"rendered":"A Giant #GummyBear\u2014with a Mugshot? Only in #NYC!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I usually find hidden surprises on my walks around Palo Alto. In New York, the surprise was a little harder to miss\u2014a giant red gummy bear!  Apparently, this one even has a mugshot. His crime? Being too sweet?  But behind the playful appearance is a more serious story.<br><br>This is Vandal Gummy, by New York artist WhIsBe, whose name stands for \u201cWhat Is Beauty.\u201d He pairs a familiar childhood treat with a prison mugshot\u2014a surprising combination that makes you look twice. (vandalgummybears.com.  The artist has described its original meaning as \u201cinnocence lost.\u201d Something we associate with sweet childhood memories suddenly looks like a criminal. For me, it raises a question: has the bear changed, or has the sign changed how we see him? (Forbes)<br><br>The gummy bear wasn\u2019t the only sculpture that caught my eye. Together, these discoveries made me slow down and enjoy something unexpected among the city\u2019s buildings.<br><br>If you follow my Hidden Palo Alto blogs, you know I love finding stories behind everyday places. This New York discovery reminded me that art can make us smile first\u2014and think a little deeper afterward.<br><br>What did you see first\u2014a sweet childhood memory or a bear in trouble?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-7387b849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Six sculptures #NYC #Oculus #GummyBear\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1245673131?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"422\" height=\"750\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"#Gummy Bear Get a mugshot in #NYC #Oculus\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1245596935?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"667\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Gigantic Steel #GummyBear<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-7387b849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I usually find hidden surprises on my walks around Palo Alto. In New York, the surprise was a little harder to miss\u2014a giant red gummy bear! Apparently, this one even has a mugshot. His crime? Being too sweet? But behind the playful appearance is a more serious story. This is Vandal Gummy, by New York [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":791,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[221],"tags":[244],"class_list":["post-5032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sightseeing","tag-fun"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Juliana Lee","author_link":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/author\/juliana-lee\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"I usually find hidden surprises on my walks around Palo Alto. In New York, the surprise was a little harder to miss\u2014a giant red gummy bear! Apparently, this one even has a mugshot. His crime? Being too sweet? But behind the playful appearance is a more serious story. This is Vandal Gummy, by New York&hellip;","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/791"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5032"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5049,"href":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5032\/revisions\/5049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julianalee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}