Last December, the curious case of Cartrain was mentioned in this space, as the teenage college artist responded to copyright infringement charges by Damien Hirst with an all-star fundraising effort. On Saturday,the Independent’s Afrika Akbar reports Cartrain’s attempts at revenge — stealing pencils from Hirst’s sculpture, “Pharmacy”, previously on display at London’s Tate Gallery — have resulted in the former’s arrest (link swiped from Boing Boing)
Cartrain created a “wanted”-style poster that read: “For the safe return of Damien Hirst’s pencils I would like my artworks back that DACS and Hirst took off me in November. It’s not a large demand… Hirst has until the end of this month to resolve this or on 31 July the pencils will be sharpened. He has been warned.”
Yesterday, Cartrain told The Independent: “I went to the Tate Britain and by chance had a golden opportunity to borrow a packet of pencils from the Pharmacy exhibit. That same day I made up a fake police appeal poster advertising that the pencils had been removed from the Tate and that if anyone had any information they should contact the police on the phone number advertised.
“A few weeks later I went out and I returned home to find out the art and antiques squad from New Scotland Yard had called round with a warrant for my arrest.”
He was told by custody officers that the pencils were valued at £500,000 and that he had damaged “the concept of a public artwork titled Pharmacy … valued at £10,000,000”. Cartrain is on bail and, if convicted, his actions will feature among the highest value modern art thefts in Britain. The box of pencils “ a very rare “Faber Castell dated 1990 Mongol 482 Series” “ will be put back by Hirst, although the installation is no longer on public display.
But that is not the end of it. Police also arrested Cartrain’s 49-year-old father, who they suspected of harbouring the pencils. “Initially, we arrested his dad but it soon became clear that it was his son who was responsible,” said a police source. “We arranged to arrest him by appointment. The act of theft was clearly a stunt to gain publicity.”