VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- An outdoor public art sculpture in Vancouver, British Columbia, has been targeted a second time by thieves who made off with part of it, city officials said.
The missing part of the $250,000 artwork, titled "History of Loss," by internationally acclaimed artist Sudarshan Shetty, was a miniature Volkswagen Beetle, The (Toronto) Globe and Mail reported Tuesday.
"We are trying to create an open air museum, but if we can't guarantee to the artists that their works are completely safe, then guess what, no more artists," said Barrie Mowatt, president of the Vancouver International Sculpture Biennale.
Shetty's sculpture originally included replicas of 42 battered, gray VWs within transparent panels. All are in some form of disrepair, such as wobbly wheels and cracked windshields, the newspaper said.
The first car stolen was quickly recovered by police. The second is still missing.
"We didn't want to reinstall it. We thought it made a statement in its own right. But two doesn't," Mowatt said. "
"The one stolen car has no resale value. If the thieves are art enthusiasts, they've destroyed a work of public art that was meant for the entire community to enjoy," he said.
Police said they have no suspects.
