2 LA Artists Behind 'Hollyweed' Sign Prank On New Year's Day?

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Was a New Year's day prank actually a work of art?

Two Los Angeles-based artists have apparently taken credit for transforming the iconic Hollywood sign to read "Hollyweed" on Jan. 1.

Zach Fernandez - who goes by the moniker "Jesushands", according to his website - posted an image of the sign with comments congratulating him on the prank.

Fernandez and his creative partner and ex-wife Sarah Fern told VICE on Tuesday they were the ones who altered the sign to "bring about conversation" on marijuana law reform. They said they used sheets and clamps to black out part of the letters and create new ones.

While it's not confirmed whether Fernandez actually did it, he responded to some comments on his Instagram post accepting praise for the work.

According to Fernandez's website, one of his artistic specialties is "large scale inst[a]llations" - experience that might have been useful in order to manipulate the giant tarps that were used to turn two of the iconic sign's white Os into Es sometime on New Year's Eve or early New Year's Day.

Multiple photos of the defaced sign showed two small banners hanging from the transformed letters, one of which apparently referenced the phrase "jesushands".

Detectives were treating the matter as a trespassing investigation, Los Angeles Police Department's West Hollywood spokesman Cory Palka announced Tuesday. The LAPD has not confirmed if the couple was behind the caper.