Art Thieves GO CRAZY!

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Art thieves steal two ton Henry Moore sculpture

This makes me think that the guys who jacked "The Scream" last year at gunpoint, like a gallery is a 7-11, issued a general challenge to do something even more outrageous. I just hope that the theory that it was stolen for its value as scrap metal is bullshit - if art is going to be stolen, it should at least go to collectors.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Sunday, 18 December 2005 02:47 (eighteen years ago) link

All I can think after clicking on that link is that the page layout is amazingly bad. I started reading in the middle of the story. Naturally, anyone would. This belongs on the bad design thread.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 02:51 (eighteen years ago) link

No wonder the theives left the page layout where it was!

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Sunday, 18 December 2005 02:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Police believe a crane was used to hoist the 11ft by 8ft, two-ton statue on to a Mercedes flat-bed lorry. Three men are being sought, having been captured on security cameras.

I don't understand. They had security cameras, but not aimed at the art itself? So they missed the whole crane-lifting-a-2-ton-sculpture part? That's pretty hilarious.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 02:59 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, and no way you go to that trouble for scrap metal. They wouldn't have stolen it if they didn't know someone would pay millions for it.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 03:00 (eighteen years ago) link

I guess the cameras were on but unmanned. If someone was supposed to bemonitoring them, he's prying dentures out his ass right now.

I thought the scrap thing was pretty far-fetched myself. Bronze is copper and tin, right? The value of tin would be pretty low, and I don't know how you'd seperate it from the big-money copper anyway.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Sunday, 18 December 2005 03:02 (eighteen years ago) link

Big money copper != big money art, at any rate.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 03:17 (eighteen years ago) link

One hopes.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Sunday, 18 December 2005 03:33 (eighteen years ago) link

I managed to find the start of the article no problem

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 18 December 2005 05:05 (eighteen years ago) link

You're like the secretary who repeatedly pushes the wrong button on the keyboard "by accident," and keeps blaming herself instead of even thinking to blame the keyboard. You're an apologist for bad design.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 05:32 (eighteen years ago) link

no, I am not

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 18 December 2005 05:35 (eighteen years ago) link

well, then you're just thick as a concrete wall.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 05:41 (eighteen years ago) link

I managed to find the start of the article no problem

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 18 December 2005 05:57 (eighteen years ago) link

Art theft is stupid and unimaginative. Conceptually it is no different than shoplifting a tube of lipstick, really. What is way more fun to think about is art forgery. Forging artwork is one of the most intriguing and convoluted concepts you can imagine. It illuminates the perversity of capitalism as few ideas can. Give me art forgers over art thieves any day.

― Aimless (Aimless), Sunday, 18 December 2005 06:44 (eighteen years ago) link

The layout could be a problem with a resolution/browser size that cuts off before the text in the left column is seen - web news items often has a central column of text with images to either side.

The sculpture was in the external-workshop area for some reason I don't recall from the TV news, which may be something to do with the security cameras just catching a couple of snapshots of the lorry coming and going. Though when I think of the big Yorkshire Sculpture Park, with its large selection of large Moores, I don't recall any sign of cameras anywhere near most of the art.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 18 December 2005 10:07 (eighteen years ago) link

Maybe they're going to melt it and use it to make Constructivist art.

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!, Sunday, 18 December 2005 10:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Forging artwork is one of the most intriguing and convoluted concepts you can imagine. It illuminates the perversity of capitalism as few ideas can. Give me art forgers over art thieves any day.

Somebody's seen F for Fake, I see.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 11:07 (eighteen years ago) link

And, I should add, I agree completely.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 11:10 (eighteen years ago) link

The layout could be a problem with a resolution/browser size that cuts off before the text in the left column is seen

I don't want to belabor this point, but no... it's a fixed-width layout, with two colums of text where there need only be one, and the second column of text begins higher than the first. This is very wrong. It might work for a newspaper with one headline tying the two columns together, but anywhere on the web, it's just... wrong. I'm sorry I can't come up with a more clever word for "wrong."

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 11:17 (eighteen years ago) link

wrong

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 18 December 2005 20:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Looks like another case of tit for tat, actually.

― patrick bateman (mickeygraft), Monday, 19 December 2005 01:00 (eighteen years ago) link

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