The scene of the crime-- or inadvertent crime. Readers of the Myartspace Blog may remember my interview with Mark Staff Brandl which was posted in June of 2008. Mark is an art critic-- he writes for New York’s Art in America, SharkForum, and London’s The Art Book. He is also an artist. Mark contacted me yesterday about a story that can only be described as an artists nightmare.
The story involved museum visitors taking more than just informative materials and business cards home-- long story short, over 26 paintings were taken by visitors during an exhibit opening. Needless to say, my jaw dropped when I glanced over the article-- it dropped even further when I realized that the paintings that were “inadvertently” stolen belonged to Mark.
Discussing the exhibit and the theft Mark stated, “This is a great place, with many cutting edge shows. The opening for "Out of Sequence" was apparently enormous, more than 900 people and so on. I was not present. I wish I had been, because after the opening, they noticed that somehow 26 of my 31 paintings displayed in an installation/object had disappeared. Why no one noticed during the opening is beyond me.”
Mark continued, “Granted, my art is popular-looking, and my posters are regularly stolen and reappear framed elsewhere. I have grown to accept this as a compliment. But I have exhibited my small "Cover" paintings in circular spin racks in many venues, cities, even various countries, in museums, galleries, Kunsthallen and more, and never lost a single one.”
At this time The Lab is trying to recover the stolen paintings. For more information please read Mark’s article concerning the theft-- Brandl Art "Inadvertently" Stolen from Museum by Mark Staff Brandl -- SharkForum . Feel free to pass this information on.
Take care, Stay true,
London Calling
Wow....this is simply hilarious in a weird, Dada-ist, ironic kind of way!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they had camera? It would be awesome to see a time lapsed clip of the paintings vanishing.
ReplyDeleteWow. The time lapsede thing would be great --- then I MIGHT even forgive everybody! Thanks for posting this Brian!
ReplyDeleteI agree. At least then you would have something to exhibit. I'm still shocked that people walked off with your paintings. Maybe someone put a FREE or TAKE ONE sign by the rack? Trying to make sense of it. Any updates?
ReplyDeleteUPDATE: The wonderful helpers at BElmar --- Jillian and Adam --- have "retrieved" all but 7! 'd still like the videos .....
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