[MSN] Art thieves paint themselves in corner. Suspicious custodian foils brazen attempt to steal painting off wall.

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Art thieves paint themselves in corner 
Suspicious custodian foils brazen attempt to steal painting off wall  
  
By DAN HIGGINS, Staff writer 
Click byline for more stories by writer. 
First published: Friday, December 14, 2007 
 
ALBANY -- Edvard Munch, Goya, Leonardo da Vinci ... and Dorothea Osborn?
    
Osborn, an Albany painter, has joined the ranks of artists who have had
their works plucked from gallery walls by thieves.

Only in Osborn's case, the crooks didn't get away with it.

"It's a strange feeling," said Osborn, who has lived and painted in Albany
since her college days 20 years ago. "On the other hand, I'm kind of
flattered that someone would want my work."

Last week, Osborn delivered her mixed-media paintings and some sculptures to
a vacant office space at 518 Broadway. The Downtown Albany Business
Improvement District uses vacant spaces in the city as gallery space for its
First Friday program, an art-centered, evening open house the first Friday
of each month.

Among the mixed-media and oil paintings she hung on the walls of the former
office space of the State Association of Counties was "Pond," a
6-foot-square work depicting a frozen pond. Its price tag is about $2,500.

The morning of Dec. 7, three men pulled up to the building in a white van.
They casually walked in and began removing "Pond" from the wall.

A maintenance man saw them and was immediately suspicious. The men said they
had permission to move the painting, but the maintenance man was skeptical.
The art opening was that evening, so why were they removing artwork that had
just been hung on the walls? He went next door to the Business Improvement
District Office, where workers said there was no plan to move Osborn's work.

The maintenance man ran back to 518 Broadway, where the men had "Pond"
halfway out the door. When he told them to stop, they dropped the painting
and walked away, escaping in the white van.

Police were called several hours later and took statements from witnesses.

The building owners at 518 Broadway didn't want to comment on the story,
fearing bad publicity because of the attempted theft.

Elizabeth Dubben, the owner of Amrose Sable Gallery in Albany, said Osborn's
tale of attempted theft is rare.

"That's certainly an oddity," she said. "As far as I know, there's no black
market for art in Albany. I've never heard of anything like this happening."

But it's not unheard of. In October of last year, the Red Square bar in
Albany reported the theft of 17 pieces of art from its walls -- and two lamp
shades -- during an after-hours break-in. 

Higgins can be reached at 454-5523 or by e-mail at dhiggins at timesunion.com. 

http://www.timesunion.com/