Art thief worked quickly

Mike Chouinard, The Times

Published: Tuesday, June 30, 2009

It's one thing to have a painting stolen, quite another to have a portion of an artwork stolen. That's what happened to Hope artist Rebecca Bessette last week when sections of two of her works were taken from a Chilliwack gallery.

Many of her artworks are triptychs, paintings done in three panels. When someone broke in to the Cornerstone Gallery on Young Road overnight last Tuesday, they grabbed a single panel from two of these triptychs before fleeing the scene.

"Apparently they had about 30 seconds before an alarm went off," Bessette said.

The culprit removed the left panel of a landscape work called The Apple Tree as well as the centre panel of an abstract piece called the story changed.

"It looks like the result of a lie detector," she said.

By taking panels, the person not only committed a theft but, in the eyes of the gallery's owner, defaced the works because the missing panels now render the remaining ones incomplete when it comes to trying to sell.

"It was almost like an act of vandalism," Cornerstone Gallery owner Krista Butt said.

The loss of The Apple Tree is particularly painful for Bessette, as she has kept it for years after completing it as part of a collection in 2004.

"I usually just show it. It's not for sale," she said. "For me to have it around that long is a big deal."

At present, Bessette has not reproduced any of her art, so she does not even have additional versions of the two paintings.

Butt said thefts hurt galleries and especially artists in additional ways because of the challenges of getting work insured.

"Artists get screwed over with insurance," she said.

Last week's break-in was not the first for Butt, who only recently set up her own gallery.

"I've had three break-ins in three months," she said. "Two of the three times artwork has been stolen."

Butt was pleased with the police's prompt response in each of the three incidents but still she fell victim to robbers. Beyond the artworks, thieves have taken a computer and most recently a stereo.

As to where the paintings might end up, neither the artist nor the gallery owner has a clue.

"I'm new to the gallery world. I'm just shocked that they would have a market," Butt said.

In the meantime, she is stepping up the security measures at her gallery, beyond the alarm system, though she admits she is doing this reluctantly because it doesn't create the atmosphere she wants to show works of art.

"It's a gallery and you don't want to bar up everything like Fort Knox," Butt said.

Chilliwack RCMP say the case is still under investigation and that the Forensic Identification Section is assisting with the file. Anyone with infomation should call the police at 604-792-4611.

- Images of the painting can be seen online at www.rebeccabessette.com.

© Chilliwack Times 2009