We don't recommend it, at all, but if you want to successfully steal artwork you should probably avoid trying unload it in the same city mere weeks later.
And you really, really shouldn't stop off at what appears to be the closest possible gallery.
But that's apparently what thieves who robbed a storage unit last month did on Friday, giving Van Gogh a run for his money in the "appears to be mad" department -- and giving Coral Gables gallerist Ramón Cernuda a cocktail hour tale for life.
Cernuda was in his eponymous gallery when a couple walked in to sell seven paintings worth about $150,000. He recognized the work, by well-known Cuban artists including René Portocarrero, Amelia Peláez, Mariano Rodríguez and Domingo Ravenet, as among pictures circulated by the FBI following a storage unit heist July 16.
"I found it strange they would try to sell the paintings so soon after they were stolen, and right here in Miami,'' Cernuda told the Herald.
The storage unit, which held work for collectors Rafael DíazCasas and Blas Reyes, is less than four miles and nearly a straight shot from Cerduna Art Gallery.
Surveillance video from the night in question shows two people removing paintings from the unit; police believe they broke a padlock to get inside. 32 paintings were reported missing, but none were insured -- meaning that their lack of smarts might not work out so well for the culprits, but it's a nice break for DíazCasas and Reyes.
Local
It's also a nice break that Cernuda kept his cool. He engaged the couple in negotiations, keeping them talking while an employee called police.
Soon, officers from the Miami and Coral Gables police departments were on scene questioning the pair along with federal agents before whisking them -- and the work -- away in unmarked cars.
Cernuda's wife, Nercys, can't believe it, either. "This has all been very weird," she said.
