On this week’s art crime blotter: the makers of a Millennium Falcon–shaped shed struck back, a thief attempted to hold a sculpture ransom, and a painting of a nude man with a teapot set local prudes boiling.
Vandalism
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: a cycling-themed cow statue goes missing, one art dealer sues another over a Jeff Koons sculpture, and a former guard takes the Metropolitan Museum to court.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: two men tried to steal a copy of a Banksy, a sculptural tribute to Trump was set on fire, and Alec Baldwin accused Mary Boone of selling him the wrong Ross Bleckner painting.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: Norwegian youths destroyed a stone-age engraving of a skier, Mary Boone sued an art adviser over allegedly ill-gotten KAWS works, and a Salvador Dalí sculpture was vandalized in Quebec City.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: an abducted alien sculpture was recovered, a recovering meth addict returned a stolen Thomas Kinkade sculpture, and wild Winnipeggers smashed a public art installation.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: a Florida man beheaded a 13th-century statue, a man was arrested under suspicion of stealing a trailer full of blue-chip art, and a 300-pound sculpture of a bear turned up 700 miles from where it went missing.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: a solid gold and diamond-encrusted statue of an eagle was stolen, a subversive Malaysian street artist was charged with “violating multimedia laws,” and a gnome sculpture went missing.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: Spanish police arrested seven people for Francis Bacon heist, a Picasso thief preyed on a Chelsea gallery, and an artist lost his head after someone stole his guillotine sculpture.
Kids Smash Art at Glass Museum While Adults Stand by Filming
Just when you’d thought you’d seen it all when it comes to art-breaking mishaps (selfie seekers, I’m looking at you), along comes this incredible footage from China of two boys fracturing a sculpture in the Shanghai Museum of Glass.
Crimes of the Art
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.
China Will Publicly Shame Vandals Who Tag Mount Everest Base Camp
For those temped to leave graffiti on the base camp of the Chinese side of Mount Everest, known as Mount Qomolangma, think again: your name may appear on a public list, distributed to and publicized by news outlets.
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: an MFA student’s sculpture about campus gun laws violated campus gun laws, collector Aby Rosen forked over $7 million in unpaid taxes on art, and the painter of the Donald Trump micropenis portrait was attacked by one of the candidate’s supporters.