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A missing 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat painting en route to an exhibit in Europe was reported missing from a JFK International Airport hangar two weeks ago. Police were able to figure out that Albert Porcelli, a truck driver, stole the painting since a surveillance tape caught the crime and the fact that his presence at the warehouse was confirmed because he had to leave a copy of his driver's license there. Porcelli was not a sophisticated art thief, since he didn't try to unload the painting on the black market immediately; he just let it sit, still in its box labeled "painting," in the back of a warehouse in Elizabeth, NJ. Porcelli's landlord thinks that he was trying to get back at some coworkers. His boss told the media, "To me he's a complete idiot. Why would you give someone your driver's license with all your information and then go and do something like this?" Um, because he's a dumbass?
And what good timing for the Brooklyn Museum, which has a Basquiat show up right now for another two weeks or so.
Photograph of the recovered painting from the AP
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What an ugly picture. It should stay lost.
Anything goes in the name of art.
i second that. bad thief steals bad art.
The painting looks like what my dog did when it stepped on some red paint and then also tracked some mud into the house. I took a photograph. I am looking for some curator with a lot of tax-payer money to spend to buy it.
Basquiat is one of the most overrated artists of late. In my opinion his paintings are crap; they'd do better as t-shirt designs, that's about it.