This past Saturday at the Fairview Fine Art Festival (Paragon Fine Art Festivals) an artist had a $4000 original painting stolen from inside their booth. A tragedy no one wants to experience.  The next morning the director, Bill Kinney, went down to the security office and asked to view the security videos from the streets.  As it turns out no one had entered or exited the site.  This left one possibility – the high-end condominiums adjacent to the site.  After viewing additional security video on the street where the show was set up, they discovered and identified a man walking his dog as the culprit.  The artist was notified by police and this evening the police will be sitting in front of the culprit's home waiting for him to arrive so they can arrest him for grand larceny.  

PS:  Yes, there was security at the show.

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  • Hi Michael.  So glad to hear that your painting was returned.  Hope you like AFI as much as I do!

  • Terrific, Michael! We welcome you to AFI and congratulate you on this triumph.

    Re: Bill Kinney. He has done some advertising with me but I've never met him. When interviewing Archie Smith last week for the featured artist he could not say enough great things about Bill. So kudos to Michael and to Bill. Our industry's success depends on building relationships with one another and having common goals.

  • Update as of this morning - Three weeks after the theft took place, this morning Fairview police recovered my stolen oil painting!  Many thanks to Bill Kinney who stayed on top of it!!  I am new to Art Fair insiders.  Hello fellow artists!

  • BILL KENNY ROCKS!!

  • It helps that bill is an artist himself It makes him feel what it's like to work so hard to make a living. He also has allegiance to his artists which is incredibly unusual. Nancy wasserman glitzy glass
  • Kevan, Bill HAS moved to the Florida market! I did my first Paragon show this past January with him (Sarasota Fine Art Festival) and he is a First Rate show promoter!
  • I LOVE happy endings!  And I'm glad to hear about some of the good things that happen.  Kudos to the organizer.

  • Fantastic!

  • Another reason I will always do any Paragon show I can. Can't say enough good about Bill's efforts on behalf of artists, and I only wish he'd move into the Florida arena more.

  • I'm glad they had the rationale to keep looking at the camera's. Or even look in the first place. Nice to know the artist's are being looked after.

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