[CPProt.net] Three of sculptor's works are missing from gallery

[Museum Security and Cultural Property Protection (Ton Cremers)]

Three of sculptor’s works are missing from gallery 
Monday, January 16, 2006
 
Photos:
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/features-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/01/16
/20060116-D5-03.html 

Two more steel sculptures were stolen from outside a Columbus art gallery on
the heels of a similar theft a week earlier, according to the owner. 

Together, the three pieces are valued at $22,000, said Caren Petersen, owner
of A Muse Gallery, 996 W. 3 rd Ave. 

"I don’t think it’s a prank," she said. 

A pair of works was stolen Wednesday night. 

Dancer, a $7,500 sculpture of a ballerina, stands about 4½ feet and weighs
more than 300 pounds. Axis, a man balanced on three books, rises about 4
feet, weighs about 250 pounds and is valued at $7,000. 

The first piece stolen, on Jan. 4, is an elongated male figure titled Sway. 

All three are by Russell Whiting of Alexandria, La. 

"You’ve got to wonder who’s doing this," Petersen said. "They really are not
easy pieces to move." 

The works were being displayed outside the gallery, in a neighborhood of
businesses and industries, to identify the gallery. Three other Whiting
sculptures have since been moved indoors. After the first theft, Petersen
said, Columbus police told her they doubted that the metal piece had been
stolen to be sold for scrap — given that steel fetches less than some other
metals at junkyards. 

"We’ve checked out every junkyard; they’re not junking it," she said. "It’s
so bizarre at this point, my mind is spinning. I can’t fathom what somebody
is thinking." Police are continuing to investigate. Petersen has offered a
reward of $500 for each recovered sculpture. The art is insured, she said,
but the artist’s effort isn’t replaceable. "I just want the pieces back."