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# Crimes of the Art
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/crimes-of-the-art-62/
- Published: 2016-05-17T20:25:57.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:58:15.000Z
- Description: On this week’s art crime blotter: a psychedelic zebra sculpture was stolen and recovered, an arts organization shuttered following an embezzlement fiasco and lye attack, and vandals smashed a David Bowie painting.
- Author: Benjamin Sutton
- Tags: News, Art Crime, Crimes of the Art, David Bowie, Vandalism, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:17 (2016, 2017, part 1)

![Gilbert, a stolen zebra sculpture, has been returned to Marwell Zoo officials. (screenshot by the author via Facebook)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/05/crimes-art-zebra-theft-gilbert.jpg)

Gilbert, a stolen zebra sculpture, has been returned to Marwell Zoo officials. (screenshot by the author via Facebook)

[*Crimes of the Art*](http://hyperallergic.com/tag/crimes-of-the-art/) *is a weekly survey of artless criminals’ cultural misdeeds. Crimes are rated on a highly subjective scale from one “Scream” emoji — the equivalent of a vandal tagging the exterior of a local history museum in a remote part of the US — to five “Scream” emojis — the equivalent of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist.*

## Zebra Sculpture Set Loose and Recaptured

![crimes-of-the-art-scream-2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-2.jpg)

A colorful fiberglass statue of a zebra, nicknamed Gilbert, which was touring the UK to promote the Marwell Zoo, was [stolen](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-36268544?ref=hyperallergic.com) from the back of the truck where it had been strapped overnight in Southampton. Luckily, officers of Hampshire Constabulary spotted Gilbert in someone’s backyard and have [returned](https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story%5Ffbid=692873207518316&id=508084832663822) him, though the circumstances of his disappearance remain under investigation.

**Verdict:** Better an unscrupulous zebra-lover’s backyard than, say, a storm drain (see [Crimes of the Art #37](http://hyperallergic.com/252600/crimes-of-the-art-37/)).

## Embezzlement Scheme and Lye Attack Force Arts Org’s Folding

![crimes-of-the-art-scream-4](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-4.jpg)

Queens-based arts nonprofit the Healing Arts Initiative plans to [declare bankruptcy](http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/05/12/healing-arts-initiative-closes/?ref=hyperallergic.com) after Kim Williams, one of its accountants, was found to have embezzled $750,000 from the organization and — when its director, Alexandra Dyer, became suspicious — paid a man to attack Dyer with lye.

**Verdict:** Once bankruptcy proceedings get underway, hopefully, the true healing can begin.

## Vandals Bust Ziggy Stardust

![crimes-of-the-art-scream-3](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-3.jpg)

A painting of David Bowie by artist John Bulley, based on the cover of *The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars* and installed inside a disused telephone booth in Southend-on-Sea, was ripped out of the booth by unknown thieves who smashed the booth’s window panes to gain access to the artwork. “What they have done is very violent,” Bulley, who plans to remake the work, told the [*Echo*](http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/14473157.Vandals%5F%5Fviolently%5F%5Fdestroy%5FDavid%5FBowie%5Fphone%5Fbox%5Frestored%5Fby%5Fartist%5Fand%5Fcouncillors/?ref=hyperallergic.com). “I suspect that they are Justin Bieber fans and don’t like Bowie.”

**Verdict:** The vandals’ actions are tantamount to [rock ‘n’ roll suicide](https://youtu.be/CD1nzOeS6U0?ref=hyperallergic.com).

## Aussie Dealer and Conservator Found Guilty of Blockbuster Art Fraud

![crimes-of-the-art-scream-4](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-4.jpg)

The art dealer Peter Gant and conservator Mohamed Aman Siddique have been [convicted](http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/brett-whiteley-fake-art-dealer-and-conservator-guilty-of-australias-biggest-art-fraud-20160512-gotqa4.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) of selling three forged paintings that they claimed were the work of the late artist [Brett Whiteley](http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/brett-whiteley-studio/?ref=hyperallergic.com) for a total of AUD $3.6 million (\~USD $2.6 million). The works were painted by Siddique and then passed off as genuine Whiteleys to unsuspecting collectors by Grant.

**Verdict:** If conservators were paid better — and the art market weren’t an opaque parallel economy where millions trade hands with virtually no oversight — things like this wouldn’t happen.

## Much Ado About Murals

![crimes-of-the-art-scream-2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-2.jpg)

Two murals in or near San Francisco’s Mission District have been tagged with exclusionary messages recently. The first target — Josh Talbott’s hyperrealist painting of a hand picking up a marble on Mission Street in College Hill — was [defaced](http://sfist.com/2016/05/05/no%5Fhipster%5Fart%5Ftag%5Fdefaces%5Fmission.php?ref=hyperallergic.com) with the words “no hipster art”; the second — a series of sea turtles by artist fnnch at the corner of 19th and San Carlos streets — was [scrawled](http://sfist.com/2016/05/11/mission%5Fdistrict%5Fmural%5Fdefaced%5Fwith.php?ref=hyperallergic.com) with the words “Latino art only.”

**Verdict:** Perhaps these tags are being misinterpreted, and were in fact intended as warnings that, once the city’s tech takeover is complete, there will be no more spaces for hipster or Latino art.

## Conceptual Art Pool Trashed

![crimes-of-the-art-scream-3](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-3.jpg)

Artist Alfredo Barsuglia’s conceptual art-cum-treasure hunt swimming pool in the desert in Southern California, “[Social Pool](http://www.social-pool.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com),” has been [attacked](http://laist.com/2016/05/10/the%5Flittle%5Fpool%5Fhidden%5Fin%5Fthe%5Fdeser.php?ref=hyperallergic.com) by thieves and/or vandals who have smashed its lid and stolen its solar panel and pump.

**Verdict:** This is why we can’t have nice things hidden away in the desert — jerks will always find them and break them.

## Art Show Has a Martyr Complex

![crimes-of-the-art-scream-1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-1.jpg)

An exhibition due to open later this month in Copenhagen has been [accused](http://cphpost.dk/news/danish-art-exhibition-reported-to-police-for-encouraging-terror.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) of encouraging terrorism. The show will include images of two of the terrorists who carried out the Brussels attacks, and one of the men who attacked the Bataclan music venue in Paris last year, as well as historical martyr figures including Joan of Arc and Socrates.

**Verdict:** When will people learn that inclusion in an exhibition doesn’t necessarily mean something’s being encouraged?

## Thieves Check Out Ukraine’s Oldest Printed Book

![crimes-of-the-art-scream-3](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-3.jpg)

A 1574 folio of *The Apostles* printed by early publisher Ivan Fedorov and said to be Ukraine’s first printed book was [stolen](http://uatoday.tv/crime/ukraine-s-first-printed-book-stolen-from-library-649274.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) from the National Library’s rare books department.

**Verdict:** Though the thieves’ methods are deplorable, their thirst for literature is admirable.

## Kids Smash After-School Art Space

![crimes-of-the-art-scream-2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-2.jpg)

A group of 11-, 12-, and 13-year-old schoolchildren [smashed](http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/14488799.%5FBrazen%5F%5Fchildren%5Fdestroy%5Fart%5Fand%5Fsmash%5Ffurniture%5Fat%5Fyouth%5Fproject/?ref=hyperallergic.com) art and furniture, ripped open couches, and tore down curtains at the Loughton Youth Project, an after-school space at the Loughton Library.

**Verdict:** These kids need help, or before long they’ll be smashing art for ISIS.