Thieves whip glass art from gallery

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Two men stole a 20kg glass sculpture valued at $19,000 from an art and crafts gallery in central Auckland yesterday while the manager was distracted.

The daytime robbery is the latest theft of high-priced art from galleries around the country, prompting dealers to review their security.

Compendium Gallery owner Pamela Elliott was distracted at the back of the Lorne St gallery by one of two casually dressed men about 11am.

The second man picked up the heavy sculpture and walked out.

No one else was in the gallery at the time.

The men got into a dark-coloured car parked outside the gallery.

Pamela Elliott saw the car drive off quickly but did not suspect anything until seconds later when she noticed the sculpture had vanished from a display stand near the front of the gallery.

She said she was probably uninsured for the theft because it did not come under the category of breaking and entering.

Security cameras would be installed on Monday, she said.

"I don't want to have any more of this. Who wants to come to work if you are open to this kind of nonsense."

The sculpture, called Oceanic Form, was one of four carved and polished works for sale at the gallery by Avondale glass artist Ron Reichs.

The works were created from blocks of aqua-coloured glass from the former Pilkington glassworks in Whangarei.

Mr Reichs said he was surprised that anyone would want to steal the work because it was a one-off and would be difficult to dispose of.

The four pieces at the gallery took three years to complete. The stolen sculpture, measuring about 45cm by 20cm, had taken more than 100 hours to hand-carve and polish.

In the past month, thieves have stolen a historic Peter McIntyre war painting valued at $17,500 from the Centre of Contemporary Art in Christchurch, and five paintings by Pippa Sanderson worth up to $10,000 from the Te Manawa public art gallery in Palmerston North.

In July, a $25,000 painting stolen from Watson's Auctions in Christchurch was recovered in Nelson.

And in May, a $4000 work by Allan Pearson was stolen from the Dobson Bashford Gallery in Christchurch.

Centre of Contemporary Art director Warren Feeney said he had employed extra staff and installed security cameras in the past two years. The latest theft would bring another security review.