Art history repeats itself as thief makes off with another Banksy
In 2014, “Stealing Banksy,” an auction of works by the notorious British street artist, put up for sale several pieces peeled, chipped or otherwise removed from the streets where he’d made them.
Had they waited until this year, they could have added one more to the list: a print stolen from an exhibition of the artist’s work in Toronto before it even had a chance to open Wednesday.
The work in question is called Trolley Hunters, a satirical image of Neanderthal-ish men hunting a shopping cart. It’s said to be the artist’s critique on corporate food production. Its value is estimated at $45,000.
“We can confirm a piece of art went missing during setup of ‘The Art of Banksy’ exhibition in Toronto,” said Starvox Exhibits president Corey Ross.
“The incident was reported to the police who are currently investigating the disappearance. Due to the investigation, we will not be commenting further at this time.”
A spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service confirmed it was investigating the theft and break and enter. Later Thursday, police released video appearing to show the theft, while the exhibition was still being set up.
The video shows a man enter the empty gallery, installed in a former warehouse at 213 Sterling Rd., through an interior door shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday. He passes through two large galleries in the midst of being installed before arriving at a wall hung with several framed prints.
He picks one up, gingerly, holding it away from his body, and makes his way through the two galleries and out the door where he came in. There are no other people and no sign of security guards anywhere in the video.
The suspect wore glasses, a black jacket, a green camouflage baseball hat, blue jeans rolled at the cuff and a pair of grey running shoes, police say.
The exhibition, which runs until July 11, is said to contain about $35 million of the artist’s work.
Banksy’s work has long been the target of theft. A 2004 heist was among the most brazen. The piece, a giant satire of Rodin’s The Thinker, its subject fitted with a traffic cone for a top hat, was improbably stolen in broad daylight in central London.