Thieves take VW replica from Vancouver sculpture
Last Updated: Monday, November 29, 2010 | 3:03 PM ET
CBC News
Thieves have stolen a one-metre replica of a Volkswagen Beetle that is part of a sculpture entered in the Vancouver Biennale public art exhibition.
The work History of Loss by Sudarshan Shetty of India is on display at King Edward station in Vancouver.
The replica, one of 41 in the outdoor sculpture, went missing Nov. 24, according to Vancouver Biennale organizers.
Shetty, a Mumbai-based contemporary artist, often creates sculptures that make reference to childhood toys.
In the aluminum, steel and Plexiglas work, Shetty has stacked up dozens of scale replicas of the toy VW cars he played with as a child. The car is a shell and does not have internal components.
Pictured is an individual cast aluminum car from the sculpture. (Dan Fairchild/Vancouver Biennale) The cars were cast from aluminum from a single mould, but Shetty has dropped each replica, so each is damaged differently.
Vancouver Biennale organizers value the whole work at $250,000.
Barrie Mowatt, president of the Vancouver Biennale, is appealing to the public for help in reclaiming the missing car, which he said would have no resale value on its own.
"The return of this vehicle would be a great service to the Vancouver community, the art world and our foundation," he said in a release Monday.
