Minneapolis police have identified one of two people they believe stole roughly $80,000 worth of artwork from the studio of 80-year-old artist Leon Hushcha, in a burglary that involved a UPS vest, a handcart, and, apparently, another artist.
Ricardo Andres Bassat, 56, has been charged with felony burglary and is due in Hennepin County District Court on Monday, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. Police are still looking for his alleged accomplice. Court records, the Star Tribune reported, describe Bassat as an “amateur artist who is familiar with different styles of artwork.”
The burglary happened early on June 2 at Hushcha’s studio in Minneapolis’s North Loop neighborhood. Surveillance footage showed two people arriving with an empty cart at around 6:45 a.m., one of them wearing a UPS vest. About 30 minutes later, they left pushing the cart, now loaded and covered with a black sheet. The stolen haul included paintings, prints, and handmade platters worth about $80,000.
A tipster later identified the man in the UPS vest as Bassat and told police that he rented a storage unit in St. Paul. Police searched the unit on July 1 and recovered 14 of Hushcha’s paintings inside a large black Pelican protective case. Also in the locker was a portfolio containing sketches signed “Bassat,” along with mail bearing his name.
“[My impression was] that he was trying to be an artist himself,” Hushcha told the Star Tribune. “It was definitely my impression, and I thought: ‘Well, okay, how crazy can this whole thing get?’”
Hushcha’s studio assistant, Carley Novak, called the discovery of Bassat’s artwork mixed in with Hushcha’s “the cherry on top” of the alleged heist. “They’re not bad, he’s not terrible, but it’s definitely not a Leon Hushcha,” Novak said.
Hushcha has spent more than 60 years making abstract and figurative works in the Twin Cities. The 14 recovered paintings are worth an estimated $60,000, while four paintings and 80 prints are still missing. The paintings came back intact, though their frames were another matter. Novak described them as “tattered and beaten up,” as though the thieves had been throwing the works around.
Hushcha and Novak now plan to turn part of the ordeal into an exhibition. The recovered works will go on view at his studio beginning September 17, accompanied by the evidence tags police attached to them after their recovery.
Bassat was charged by summons. Court records do not list an attorney representing him, and the Star Tribune said it had tried to reach him for comment. His criminal history includes convictions for assault with a dangerous weapon and misdemeanor theft.
Hushcha, for his part, seems more bewildered than angry. He told the newspaper that if the people responsible had simply apologized and returned the work, he would have forgiven them.
“In one sense it’s harmless, but it’s a lesson I think to the artist community that they have to be careful with what they are doing and how they [are] housing their work,” he said.
