The one not taken

by Dennis Ellman

Buy the Original Drawing

Price

$1,000

Dimensions

18.000 x 24.000 inches

Title

The one not taken

Artist

Dennis Ellman

Medium

Drawing - Pen&ink

Description

So here�s the story and I�m sticking to it. Someone broke into my car early this year and stole four pieces of art. All were matted and framed originals. Here's the fun/odd part: The day before I had picked up these pieces after they had hung for two months in the Gotthelf Gallery in La Jolla. Actually 5 pieces, which will bring me to another concern. I had hoped, of course, that they would sell since they were all Jewish themed. Ergo, I had voided myself of any emotional attachment. In my mind, they were gone already and I didn't really want them back. But I digress. So here's the deal: nothing else was taken from my car -- because there was nothing else of value IN my car. Things were rifled about, but thankfully the thieves saw little value in my two 40-year-old baseball gloves, used wads of Kleenex and a half-empty bottle of Tums in the glove compartment. The question is, REALLY? Jewish art? Who were these thieves? What could they possible do with the art? They sat for months in a gallery with hundreds of "culturally appropriate" deep (or semi-deep) pockets rejecting them? Swap meet? Maybe they'll try and ransom them back to me? And here's the kicker. Why didn't they take that 5th piece? What's wrong with it? Didn't it measure up -- to some discerning thief in the dark of my driveway in the middle of the night? Now that REALLY hurts. Critics. All are signed, by the way.
And the follow-up: a few weeks ago � 8 months after the theft � I received an email from a soul trying to authenticate his purchase of 3 framed paintings at, yes, a swap meet for $100. He wondered if he had gotten a steal. Well, yes he had. He offered to return them. I called him and chatted. He sounded older than me, which is post death, and had just gone on workers� comp because of a job injury. He loved the art, saw my twisted signature and decide to verify his great dell. Now, in my sick mind, a sell is a sell, and this guy BOUGHT the three pieces. The matt and frames alone were about $175 a pop. I decided that since, in my emotional head, these paintings were gone that I would let the buyer keep them. I did get a description of the swap meet seller, but decided to avoid death-by-stupidity. The guy was thrilled and called me a few days later to ask if I minded if he sold his great find to fund his disability. Seemed OK to me. Poor, delusional man. He contacted me again last week to say he had multiple buyers interested but need letters of authenticity. Seriously? So I get robbed, I do a good deed by allowing the finder of the stolen art to keep the pieces, he turns around and sells them, asking me to validate them so the new buyers have original paperwork. Works for me.
So here�s the one NOT TAKEN.

Yes, it's matted, framed and for sale.

Uploaded

August 10th, 2016

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