Sculpture crushed, allegedly nearly stolen. SF says it can’t intervene.

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During the recent spate of violent windstorms, a large eucalyptus tree fell on “Invocation,” a 19-year-old public sculpture sitting on a patch of green near the Highway 101 onramp at Cesar Chavez Street. 

The tree severely damaged the 12-foot-tall steel sculpture created by the late Pepe Ozan. The eagle-warrior figure, installed at a cost of $14,000, is presently tilted at a gaudy angle; a member of the public wrote via email that, on Wednesday, she chased off several individuals pulling it with a rope, Saddam Hussein-style, and attempting to make off with it.  

The San Francisco Arts Commission sent out a release all the way back on March 23, acknowledging that it had sent a crew to “assess damages and current conditions” and that “staff are in the process of making arrangements for the removal and possible restoration of the artwork.” 

That was more than two weeks ago, however, and there has been no invocation to remove “Invocation.” And now there has been an alleged theft attempt of the eagle-warrior listing dangerously to starboard and appearing wounded, neglected — and vulnerable. 

Coma Te, a spokesman for the Arts Commission, said the city would like to remove “Invocation” and eventually get it in shape for a long-planned relocation to the Palega Recreation Center in the Portola, but it can’t. 

“We are waiting on Caltrans to remove the tree to allow us the access to fully remove the sculpture,” he said. “We are not allowed to go in there until Caltrans clears it for us.” 

While there appears to be a good three feet between the large tree and the damaged sculpture, Te said that removing “Invocation” would probably require heavy equipment, and there’s no room for that now. 

“We have been reaching out and trying to coordinate. From our understanding, they have other priorities to address at the moment,” he said. Te was unaware of the purported theft attempt, which disturbed and alarmed him. “We would love to know what is taking so long.” 

Jeff Weiss, a Caltrans spokesman, said that the storms knocked down lots of trees and led to many potholes, which it had to get to first. But the delay, and alleged theft attempt, have now brought the sculpture “to the top of the list.” 

“Our maintenance crews will be out there tomorrow removing branches and perhaps the tree — whatever needs to be removed so the statue can be extricated and taken off the premises,” he says. 

When a Mission Local reporter visited the site around noon on Thursday, the tilted sculpture managed to maintain a tenuous balance with an adjacent sign that reads, “Freeway Entrance,” its neck resting atop the sign. Not far from the sign and sculpture, some homeless people living beneath the freeways had not yet awakened from their slumber.

“I just saw this right now,” said Forrest Longview, a resident of the area. Longview, like many other pedestrians and bikers who have passed by “Invocation” many times, only first noticed its presence when asked about it. According to Longview, several orange-vested workers visited the site this morning to assess the sculpture and nearby trees. Weiss confirmed that those were Caltrans employees. 

Ozan, an Argentinian, died in 2013 at the age of 73. In his lifetime, he was described as a “sculptor, sailor and voodoo priest,” and may be best known for his work at Burning Man. He directed large-scale performance-art pieces there between 1996 and 2002 — some of these featured 200 performers and 30 musicians and audiences of up to 50,000.