This Lib Artist Won’t Call the Police if You Steal Her Paintings
3rd October 2023
What happened: AnaYelsi Velasco-Sanchez, a radical left-wing IndoLatinx artist whose work focuses on “justice” and “liberation,” was living the dream at her first solo exhibition in Washington, D.C., until a thief ran off with two of her paintings.
“I feel violated, and I’m grieving the lost art, but mostly I’m feeling shocked at the boldness and thoughtlessness of entering a community space, and stealing art that is all about justice and liberation,” Velasco-Sanchez wrote in an Instagram post announcing the theft.
One of the stolen paintings, valued at $200 each, was titled Bountiful: The Land of Thoughts and Prayers. It dealt with “gun violence and state sanctioned violence in the United States,” the artist said on TikTok, a Chinese spyware app and social media platform.
And oh, was it ever ugly….