This Saturday, May 3, Patricia Conde Gallery (Calle Gral. Juan Cano 68, San Miguel Chapultepec) turned to his Instagram account to denounce the theft of an art work.
It is an artist’s cyanotypy Paola Dávila (Oaxaca, 1980), which was stolen from the gallery on April 29, a day before the exhibition in which it would be exhibited, entitled “The following … experimentation, processes, alchemy.”
The artist comments that the gallery explained that by when the theft occurred, the work printed on silk of 56 x 56 cm was already hung on one of its walls, and that around 5 pm, a person entered with a large bag and took it. The theft was not violent and was immediately reported to the police, which attended the place, raised a report and opened the investigation.
“Today it was decided to make the publication (about theft) and we knew that this person, who unfortunately is not easy to identify because he carried a cap, tried to sell it after 40 minutes of having stolen it,” says Dávila, who is a member of the National Creators System Since 2020.
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What attracts attention to the gallery staff and the artist, he explains, is that the work was mounted to the bottom of the gallery and that it is not small enough.
“I was in the last gallery room, it was not a piece that was at hand or at the entrance. It was not easily accessible or small dimensions, it wasn’t something you could easily throw yourself into the bag. That seems strange to us.”
The artist details that it was a gallery of the Condesa neighborhood where the work was tried, but was not acquired. “There was only the reception person, she was something strange, she did not pay so much attention and now that she saw the publication realized,” Dávila details.
“It is terrible, we are very amazed that this has passed and counter (…). This specific exhibition is focused on unique pieces, what it means is that this work cannot be replicated and if it is lost, it is lost forever,” adds the creator, whose works are part of important collections such as those of the MUAC, University Museum of the Chopo, the EPO Foundation of Munich and the Tierney Foundation of New York.
The artist and the gallery expect someone to identify the piece and find it. Dávila did not mean the price of the work.
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