Robberies have become more and more common in the Bay Area. Thieves get their hands on cars, electronics, clothing, the list goes on. But this one is new -- an art piece made of steel.
A Bay Area artist said his artwork is missing after his studio was broken into Tuesday morning.
Edo Rosenberg was finishing the last touches of his art piece. It was bolted to the ground, but that didn’t stop someone from driving down and taking it, robbing two and a half months worth of work.
“It’s crazy that someone would drag a piece that size with his truck,” he said.
Surveillance video shows the moments a driver in a white truck pulls up and starts attaching the piece to the back of the truck.
That process takes almost 20 minutes.
The weight of it leaned the truck back, but the driver managed to drive off with it anyways.
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“That's a long time of effort, I'm full time in my studio this time, it’s all I do, it’s two and a half months of working every day,” said Rosenberg.
He's shown some of his work throughout the Bay Area. Before moving to the U.S., Rosenberg grew up in Israel and went to art school there.
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This latest piece had three elements made of corten steel that were bolted together, each with a lot of detail.
“All the conflict in the Middle East has definitely affected me and lots of other people that I know and I'm very much anti-war,” he said. “If you look at the piece, some of it looks like a track of a tank.”
He wants his artwork back, but said he’s been frustrated with the lack of response from the San Jose Police Department. He said he was told to fill a report online.
“They said 'if somebody was interested, they would call me back,'” said Rosenberg.
NBC Bay Area reached out to police Tuesday about this incident but were told someone would get back to us on Wednesday.
