Stealing digital photos has long been a pasttime for some web junkies, and we as photographers have always dealt with it. Sign of the times. But this week’s theft of Jason Lee’s Polaroid portrait of actor Dennis Hopper is straight-up bull shittake.
The art collective ThisLosAngeles last week reported that, after a gallery opening called These Friends, they agreed to let a patron use the restroom just before closing. Turns out that this particular patron visited the toilet, but also paid a visit to the incredibly valuable (and beautiful) one-of-a-kind-polaroid-portrait of Dennis Hopper (shot by artist/actor Jason Lee) in the back of the gallery…and he swiped it. Pulled the art off the wall and walked out.
G’head and blame the gallery, blame the collective, blame the attendant who let the guy take a leak, blame whomever. The point is that I’m blaming the perpetrator and you should too. Stealing is bad, stealing one of a kind art is worse, and that the thief is amongst us…
Now–after several days and a $25,000 reward–Lee’s Polaroid is still missing. The gallery is facing the prospect of going out of business, the cops have little resources to sink resources into finding the culprit and recovering the loss. Wouldn’t it be nice if we in the photo, art, design, pop culture community could track this photo (and this criminal) down?
Citizens arrest. Call Jeremy Weiss at 323-747-5301 or this@thislosangeles.com if you have any tips.
(via Fraction Magazine. More details here from ThisLosAngeles.)
jason lee the skateboarder? probably skateboard took it , im guessing………
Thanks for posting Chase, I hope the photograph is recovered. It’s a shame these things happen. There is some talk here about this being just a photo, or a piece of paper, etc. I think it is much more than a piece of paper, it’s art and it really doesn’t matter too much that it is Dennis Hopper, who we’ll all forget about soon, I already did. The photo is still very striking, Polaroids have a presence about them that is cool and unique also. Compare my Subaru that I spend about $25K on and this photograph. Soon my Subaru will be in a dump somewhere with nothing of value left. This photograph though will still be intriguing to people in many, many years. And the Polaroid will hold some interest in contrast to however photography is printed/shown/displayed now and in the future.
I hate hearing about these things but unfortunately it is a fact of life. Atleast in the age we live in the word can be spread.
It’s things like this that remind me of not only the world we live in, but unfortunately, some of the people in it.
The arts community is a powerful tool to help recover lost works, digital or otherwise – look how they found “The Scream” – Edvard Munch (1893). It makes one wonder if the people that commit these crimes ironically suffer from what Munch did, depersonalization disorder, where the world around said individuals becomes distorted much like themselves.
I have full faith and confidence in those around me and in the community that this work will be found.