Street artist installs cocaine-snorting Oscar statue in LA

Los Angeles street artist Plastic Jesus placed a life-sized, cocaine-snorting, gold statuette on Hollywood Boulevard Thursday morning, only a few blocks away from where the 87th Annual Academy Awards will be held on Sunday afternoon.

Plastic Jesus is known for his stencil and installation work, often commenting on social issues through humor and irony.

Last year the secretive street artist made news with a similar Oscar-inspired installation where he placed a large statuette on the same Hollywood street corner with a belt around its arm mid injection. A direct statement on the death of oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died only weeks earlier.

A photographer who works closely with Plastic Jesus released a statement Thursday saying, "The piece is intended to draw attention to Hollywood's hidden problem of drug addiction that affects hundreds of people in the showbiz industry and is largely ignored until the death of a high profile A list celebrity."

It's unlikely the Oscar-like statue will remain on the street corner long: Last year, someone who looked like an Academy employee tried to remove the installation, prompting Plastic Jesus to transport it back to his studio.

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