Reward offered after brazen marble sculpture theft
By Siobhan Leathley,
The new year is off to a bad start for Auckland-based artist Martin Selman, whose Carrara marble sculpture was stolen on Wednesday from Sanderson Contemporary Art in Parnell.
Brazen thieves made off with the weighty marble crushed can, on show as part of the gallery’s current exhibition, managing to pocket it during broad daylight.
Selman works exclusively in Carrara marble. Inspired by a crushed
G&T can, the stolen sculpture measures approximately 90mm x 90mm x 60mm and is worth $1,950.
The piece belonged to Selman’s K Road installation collection, which features similar crushed marble cans. This is not the first time his work has been stolen; some of his earlier work was taken from a private collector’s house. The art was later recovered.
Gallery director Kylie Sanderson is disappointed by the theft but unconcerned about the resale of the art.
"A highly distinctive stolen artwork such as this will have no resale market.”
The sculpture is extremely identifiable and the gallery is asking for anyone with any information about the piece to contact them directly on (09) 374 4476.
A reward is being offered for the return of the work.
“We don’t have insurance to cover this kind of theft,” says Sanderson, “so this is really the only option we have for at least attempting to recover this loss.”
Comments
Stanley Davies
I can’t imagine that there were no security systems in place to prevent the theft or at the very least a security camera footage to show what exactly happened. But maybe Selman can feel happy that his art is appreciated enough for it to be stolen.
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