$12M art theft alleged by retiree

POLICE IN QUEENS are canvassing for a criminal with expensive, minimalist tastes.

Cops are investigating a breakin at a Sunnyside storage facility in which $12 million in art was taken, officials said Friday. The stolen artwork included masterpieces from minimalist painter Frank Stella and French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, owner William Pordy told police.

The 62-yearold Upper West Side retiree told police he was last at his storage facility on Northern Blvd. on Oct. 25. When he went back on June 1, to grab a $10,000 painting he wanted to give a friend’s daughter, he found someone cut the lock securing his unit and replaced it with a new one.

The space was robbed of 22 pieces of art. A bunch of empty cardboard boxes were left behind, Pordy told police when he reported the theft Thursday.

“They broke the locks and they stole everything, all my paintings,” Pordy (photo inset) said. “It’s awful.

“I’m upset because it’s worth a lot of money. Do you have $12 million? The point is that I had it and was going to sell them.”

The thief was also a bit choosy — leaving five of the pieces behind, Pordy said.

Pordy hoped to sell his paintings at Sotheby’s in the future, he said.

Going over the facility’s records, detectives discovered the storage area was broken into on Dec. 30. Investigators have a list of the stolen artwork and are trying to determine if any of it has been sold on eBay or other sites.