http://museum-security.org/
NOVEMBER 8, 1997


CONTENTS:




Date sent: Fri, 7 Nov 1997 18:07:06 GMT
To: rcbowman@global.california.com
From: webmaster@artloss.com (Alexandra)
Subject:

RE:Stolen Art Database


Copies to: securma@xs4all.nl
re: your e-mail enquiring about the existence of a stolen art
database.

The Art Loss Register was set up in 1991 with the help of the Auction Houses and Insurance Industry to combat the selling of stolen items. We register anything from antiquities to silver, jewellery, clocks, toys, pictures, classic cars and all things collectable. We check the auction catalogues of Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillip's, Bonham's, Butterfield & Butterfield,Neal, Skinner's, Dorotheum, Doyle's and the Hotel Drouot sales. It is also possible for dealers, insurers, police and private individuals to search our database. We have our offices in London, New York, Dusseldorf and Perth - see addresses below.
LONDON: 12 Grosvenor Place, London, SW1X 7HH, e-mail:
artloss@artloss.com internet address: hhtp://www.artloss.com NEW YORK:
666, Fifth Avenue, 21st Floor, New York NY 10103 tel: +212 262 4831
e-mail: alrnewyork@aol.com PERTH, AUSTRALIA: 1060 Hay Street, PO Box
589, West Perth, Western Australia 6872. e-mail: admin@lossreg.com.au
DUSSELDORF: Postrasse 7, 40213 Dusseldorf, Germany. tel: +211 138 0646
I hope this is a help and we look forward to hearing from you shortly
ALEXANDRA SMITH


From: "Mark Killenbeck" <mkillenb@mercury.uark.edu>
To: "Museum Security Network" <securma@xs4all.nl> (by
way of dpascale <dpascale@tiac.net>) Date sent: Fri, 7 Nov 1997
16:00:55 +0000 Subject:

Re: (Fwd) UCLA computer theft


Priority: normal

Computer theft is a problem here too. We had one enterprising individual take a laser printer from the faculty library (one of my dumb colleagues left it unlocked at night) and leave a sign it its place saying "The printer is being cleaned and serviced. Please excuse the inconvenience." Theft discovered only when I asked the real computer techie here when the printer would be back. The look on his face when he said what do you mean, and I expalined, was priceless.
Mark


(The Beacon Journal)

Man charged with vandalizing Ono painting says she's his hero

SEATTLE (AP) -- Jake Platt's red-letter day was less than auspicious.
Platt, 22, has been accused of using a big, red felt-tip pen to vandalize a $240,000 painting by Yoko Ono at Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center. The sometime student at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts said he took Ono's words -- "No one can tell you not to touch the art"-to heart during his Oct. 16 visit to the gallery. "Yes, I guess I took Yoko literally," Platt told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Thursday from his attorney's office in Muncie, Ind. He has been charged with felony vandalism and could spend between two to 10 years in jail, said Scott Forgey, Platt's attorney. Platt was released from jail Nov. 1 on $7,500 bond pending an appearance Monday in Hamilton County Municipal Court. He had been visiting his ailing father in Ohio when he decided to take in the exhibit of works by Ms. Ono, the widow of former Beatle John Lennon and something of a hero to Platt. Like Ono, Ms. Platt, an abstractionist painter, said he adheres to the Fluxus movement, which mandates that art must be felt, touched and experienced with all senses. "I've always admired her work, and I wanted to interact with it," Platt said. The 1994 work titled "Part Painting/A Circle," consists of 24 large white canvasses with a wide, horizontal black line painted across each one, suggesting an endless horizon. Near the painting was a sign quoting Ms. Ono about touching art. The work was close to two large piles of rocks-one called "joy" and another called "sorrow"-which other visitors were allowed to move around and attach notes to them. "No one said anything about me writing on the rocks, so I figured it would be OK to write on the painting," Platt said. "So what I did was underline the black line with a red line, to sort of highlight it." Startled and angry gallery officials managed to stop Platt after five panels. Platt gave them his name and address before leaving. Two days later, police officers visited the Muncie home where he was staying. Platt wasn't home, but turned himself in when told of the police visit. Art center spokesman Elizabeth Oppen said the defaced panels were quickly removed. "And then we just rearranged the canvasses. You couldn't tell the difference," Ms. Oppen said. "This guy is possessed," she said. Ms. Ono was none too happy. "She was notified by the art center, and she wasn't pleased," said Michael Phillips, who manages Ms. Ono's New York studio. "I think there are many ways of touching art-like in your mind-without destroying it," said Ms. Ono's New York curator, John Hendricks. Platt moved to Seattle several years ago to attend Cornish. He dropped out two semesters ago and spent last summer as a house painter. He plans to return to Cornish next year.



Fine-art dealer admits duping Nicholson and other celebrities


By Reuters, 11/07/97

NEW YORK - A fine-art dealer pleaded guilty yesterday to selling and leveraging valuable works belonging to his celebrity clients, including actor Jack Nicholson, and keeping the proceeds for himself. Todd Volpe, 49, of Waterville Valley, N.H., pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud in connection with schemes to obtain $2 million by defrauding his clients, art galleries and auction houses, including Christies. He was originally indicted in June on 38 counts for allegedly running 13 different schemes involving works by well-known artists, including Salvador Dali, William Merrit Chase, Tamara de Lempicka, Maxfield Parrish and Andrew Wyeth, as well as sculptures and Tiffany lamps and vases. The indictment charged that other victims included Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, producers and co-founders of Steven Spielberg's production company, Amblin Entertainment; Paul Stanley, lead singer and co-founder of the rock group Kiss; Nicholson, and lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, wife of Warner Brothers Chairman Robert Daly. Volpe, who was formerly affiliated with Jordan-Volpe Gallery in New York and who also worked in Los Angeles, filed for bankruptcy in May 1995. Federal prosecutors alleged that he used much of the proceeds to support an extravagant lifestyle. He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 5, 1998, before US District Judge Michael Mukasey. Each of the five counts carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He could also be ordered to make restitution.
This story ran on page B07 of the Boston Globe on 11/07/97. © Copyright 1997 Globe Newspaper Company.




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