Two pieces of art were stolen from an exhibit that was about to open in Somerville, Massachusetts.
"I just can't imagine wanting something and just going in and yanking it off the wall," said Adam Leveille, one of two artists who had a painting taken. "You watch 'The Thomas Crown Affair,' read about the Gardner heist, it's all kind of fun and cloak-and-dagger, but when it actually happens, it's really upsetting."
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Leveille has been told about security video that shows the crime.
"Wearing a hoodie, wearing a mask, covering most of their face and then just walking up to the paintings, and they were hung up with wires up to the ceiling, and just cut those two wires down and walked off with the pieces," he said.
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Somerville Open Studios was about to unveil the "Visions of Somerville" exhibit — located in a gallery space off the lobby at an apartment building next to the Union Square MBTA stop — when the incident happened.
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Leveille, who focuses his art on Somerville cityscapes, had spent about a month working on the piece and hoped to sell it for $2,000 at the exhibit.
"I'm based in Somerville and love painting Somerville," said Leveille. "This was the old Nissenbaum junkyard, it was a big painting 38 inches by 20 inches."
Somerville Open Studios decided to postpone the exhibit after the theft.
"We were saddened and shocked to learn that such an incident took place, but it does not change our determination to continue to give local artists opportunities to exhibit their work," it wrote in a statement.
"As artists we want people to see our work," said Leveille. "We want some people to buy our work, and when somebody comes along and does this, neither of those things are possible."
Police say they are investigating.