An Art Theft as Artwork
For Immediate Release:
“The Heist”
An Art Theft Caught on Camera—The Footage as Crypto-art.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK— Rah Crawford’s hemp fabric print was stolen from a venue in Bushwick, Brooklyn on August 11, 2018 at 2:39AM (The camera video display shows the day/month/year). The print was originally created for a retrospective commemorating his previous art period Welcome to Earth, which spanned over 12 years (2004 - 2016). Crawford’s latest digital work is a creative feedback loop—whereas the digital art continually replays the theft of a physical work of art.
Visual artist and Creative Pioneer Rah Crawford recently began a new creative period focused on technology, social media and blockchain technology called NEO NOW, to share the story of his creative vision Crawford teamed up with director’s Jordan Hollender and Jason Tanaka Blaney to create an art documentary called NEO NOW which screened in October at the 2018 Bushwick Film Festival. During the filming of the documentary, Rah was informed that one of his fabric hemp prints had been stolen from a venue in Bushwick where he was exhibiting a total of 6 hemp fabric prints.
“Blockchain technology is changing so many facets of what’s possible. It’s because of crypto-art and new concepts like digital scarcity that my newest work ‘The Art Heist’ can even exist.” states Rah, “I love the irony of a new digital art form like crypto-art being used to document the story and theft of a physical piece of art. It’s an amazing feedback loop in real time.”
Rah Crawford’s latest work “The Art Heist” is available exclusively on the SuperRare platform, a leading crypto-art platform.
ABOUT RAH CRAWFORD
Rah Crawford is a self-taught visual artist, who has shown his work in Amsterdam, Brussels, Philadelphia and New York. Creator of NPIC-Art (Neoteric Pop-Iconic Clairvoyance), the artist uses words to share visible and non-visible information within his artwork. This approach to art encourages the viewer to look deeper at the artwork, as the viewer researches the meaning of the words, they discover a layer of contextual information that informs the artwork. Arthistoryarchive.com includes Rah Crawford on a short list of 17 Neo-Pop artists whose work defines the genre, alongside Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, and Jeff Koons. The New York Times describes Rah's work as "Buoyant" "Exuberant" and "Optimistic".
rahcrawford.com
ABOUT SUPERRARE
SuperRare was founded by John Crain, Chief Executive of Pixura and Jonathan Perkins, Chief Product Officer of Pixura. SuperRare makes it easy to create, sell, and collect rare digital art. Their smart contract platform allows artists to release limited-edition digital artwork tracked on the blockchain, making the art rare, verified and collectible. SuperRare is being developed by Pixura, a crypto art loving Ethereum studio based in Brooklyn, NY.
superrare.co
The stolen artwork that was caught on camera.