A person in hi-vis clothing and head obscured with clothing, preparing for a brazen heist on Haus of Flox art shop in central Auckland on Friday night. Photo / Supplied
A person in hi-vis clothing and head obscured with clothing, preparing for a brazen heist on Haus of Flox art shop in central Auckland on Friday night. Photo / Supplied
Shocking security footage has been released showing an art thief walking along a busy inner-city Auckland street, arms laden with paintings stolen moments earlier from Auckland's Haus of Flox.
Wearing a hi-vis shirt and a jersey over his head, the street camera reveals how the raid was executed, with the largest work doubling as a tray to carry the haul.
The raid has devastated Kiwi artist Hayley King, who says up to $20,000 worth of paintings were stolen within a few minutes of the smash and grab on Friday night at her Ponsonby store.
At least half a dozen of her trademark native birds on large, round wooden canvases and a stack of smaller framed works were taken .
Two of the stolen pieces measure 1.5m or larger, with one a whopping two metres long and nearly a metre high.
Some of the works were dumped nearby, however a number remain missing.
"It sucks. I'm really shocked and angry. I've never had this happen before in my 15 years as an artist," said the devastated creative, who goes by the pseudonym Flox and uses stencil cutting and spray painting to craft her iconic native bird and botanical works.
King is pinning hopes CCTV footage from local car yards will identify those behind the theft and see the outstanding works returned.
A visual recording shows person disguised as a workman having trouble balancing a pile of artwork King reckons is worth around $8000 in their arms. Several frames spill onto the footpath.
Taking to Instagram Flox shared news of the shocking heist and asked for help to track down the stolen paintings.
"Today was pretty s*** ... #Hausofflox burgled last night ... bunch of artworks stolen ... targeted attack. Keep an eye out for any of these ones doing the rounds, thank y'all," King wrote.
Works stolen include a hand-painted 1.5m Kākāriki and Karamū wooden round worth $5500.
On the shop's Instagram account, an image of each missing artwork is shown. There are also photos of blank spaces showing where they were previously hanging on walls in the Great North Rd store.
Artist Hayley King has lost more than $12,000 worth of paintings in a weekend raid on her Auckland shop. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The stolen signature canvases range in size from 60cm round canvases through to larger 1.5m pieces.
An entire stack of framed paintings were also stolen from the shop floor in the Saturday-night raid.
King told the Herald the burglar smashed their way into her shop overnight Friday before cherry-picking some of her largest works.
"The pieces were big," she said.
"I can't believe there's just one guy. I thought they would have needed four big guys to carry it out of the shop."
King said a few stolen paintings had been found dumped in a garden in a street not far from her store.
With news of the theft spreading, King believed the burglar would be mistaken if they thought they could sell the works on popular public websites.
Police said the robbery took place between the evening of Friday, August 7 and the early hours of Saturday, August 8.
Police appealed for anyone with information to contact Auckland City Police on 105 quoting file number 200808/9972 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
