Red Bull house of art gets burgled

A thief has stolen thousands of dollars worth of tools and equipment from Eastern Market's Red Bull House of Art, the Free Press reports. The thief had been visiting the gallery under the guise of learning more about the art and the artists and came  during Mother's Day weekend when nobody was around. The Red Bull House of Art project manager Karolina Biernacka told the Free Press:

“It was everything that these artists need to build and what they create art on,” Biernacka said. “It was just a massive theft. He basically cleaned us out. It was a major blow because we are a project trying to support the artistic community and the Detroit art scene.” Luckily, the gallery was able to replace all of the stolen items within a matter of days. Biernacka said the gallery has filed a police report and is working with investigators to find the man who stole the items.

“We had a meeting with all of our artists,” she said. “We doubt we’ll get the items back, but we really want to see him go away for it. The worst part of the whole thing is it made the artists doubt if they were safe at the House of Art, which we never want. No one can be creative in a space that they don’t feel safe.”

The House of Art was launched in 2012 as an "art incubation project" and provides artist residencies to up-and-comers, who are given access to the space and other resources like art supplies (and plenty of Red Bull). Oddly, the thief didn't steal any art — some people just don't understand great art when they see it.