'It's a Wonderful Creative Act' Says Artist Kane Cunningham About Having His Paintings Stolen by Thieves
Speaking of art crime as we were in that last post, here’s another one, but concerning one of our favorite topics: art thieves. Granted, we don’t revel in knowing that people are having their art stolen, but who doesn’t like an occasional bit of “true crime” (we devour this anthology every year)? And besides, they’re always so wonderfully different (see from last year: moss man and the captured stuffed bird swindler). Today’s tale, found by way of ArtInfo, comes from artist Kane Cunningham, whose country house was broken into and 15 of his paintings, and 10 others by artist Mik Godley, were stolen. The interesting/strange part is how well Cunningham has taken it, deciding that the theft just adds another story to the house’s legacy:
The wrath of Godley is unlikely to descend, however, and there’s little prospect of Kane raising Cain. He tells me in an email: “I am in total shock, but to be honest its also rather exciting, it’s a wonderful creative act and simply part of the narrative of the House.”
…”It’s a beautiful moment in the history of the House and something to paint about. In these difficult financial times I can only guess they intend to sell them. I do not believe they are International art thieves but more likely local entrepreneurs seeking to cash in on my recent world wide publicity.” I don’t think there’s any insurance company involved, sadly. They would treasure a letter like that.
The BBC reports that the broken-into house is also not long for this world, as it teeters precariously close to a rapidly crumbling cliff and will likely fall into the North Sea in not too long a time. So we suppose it is better if thieves have the art instead of losing the pieces to the ocean.
