I never intended to paint them and I resisted the idea but in the end I couldnt help but indulge the irony. The Kentucky Theatre What becomes apparent, as first faintly and then irreversibly, is the painting as a negative apotheosis of color and form, which Reinhardt defended himself against. Back at Warren's later that afternoon, the boys were transfixed by local coverage of the Transy Book Heist. According to the news, it appeared that neither Gooch nor anyone else was able to provide the police with an accurate description of the boys. It had been agreed that Warren, with his smooth talk, and Spencer, with his artistic knowledge, would go to the meeting. The reality however was rather more mundane, he sensed that his studies were little more than a continuation of his high school. . "It's often considered a mistake in the art world to have multiple styles, but I have to go wherever my inspiration takes me. The three then take the staff-only elevator down to the bottom floor and escape out the west fire exit. I'm utterly curious about decision-making | Sharing lessons learned from the thousands of decisions I've studied and made | Founder https://www.resolve.blog. He said his name was John. It immediately had kind of sparked my imagination, like a fantasy., O.K., so were sitting in the car, smoking weed, Warren recalls, and then Spencer said, I just took a tour in that library, and theres shit sitting there you wouldnt believe. Artistically, it offered me the freedom to make the work I wanted to make without concern for my audience. Because this is so much bigger than anything weve done before.. Now we can't ever go back there. Not what I expected, not what I wanted it to be, Warren says. He was just so unbearable. Twelve million dollars, just sitting there? I love that my kids will grow up seeing both worlds and experiencing both cultures. Warren was like, I've talked to these guys. The reaction to the plan was generally positiveshortly after Thanksgiving, they moved forward. is parked in front of the library and the four are in 1st Position at bottom of stairs of library.. Failure to plan is planning to fail because if you don't plan anything, you might as well not plan at all. Attempting perfection in writing a business plan will only lead to one end result: the business plan will never be written. Warren called Gooch back to change Walter Beckman's appointment to three P.M. On the morning of December 16, Warren's carefully scripted plan began to unravel almost immediately. So we ate at Pazzo's pizza pub. Among them was the 2002 photo from the Lexington Herald-Leader of Spencer and Warren playing soccer. Frank Spencer Broker at Keller Williams Realty Published Feb 20, 2017 + Follow This past week we held a training outlining the 21 . Spencer was born in 1984 in Lexington Kentucky. After a brief discussion they chose Chas Allen, a handsome, clean-cut U.K. business major who had started the lawn-care company with Eric the previous summer. (Having seen their fair share of heist movies, they knew how dangerous it was to leave a paper trail.) Choose your favorite reinhard art prints from 2,323 available designs. We live in 10 months of the year in Colombia and spend two in the States. Around Halloween, Warren drafted a working plan, which he presented to the other three in the basement. Spencer, feeling increasingly disaffected with school life himself, readily accepted the offer. I get the call on the cell phone. The meeting was scheduled for the next morning on the southern edge of Central Park near the Plaza Hotel. part of a series on Honesty Chas promised to return to pick them up in another car after dropping the minivan off at his mom's house. I still feel like I have a long way to go to reach my full potential, and I think Jamaica will be an integral step in that direction., American visual artist Spencer Reinhard, an artist-in-residence at Blue Macaw in Boscobel, St. Mary, The ornithologist in Spencer Reinhard takes gaze. For Spencer it all started with a series of mild disappointments. He thought he was much better than everybody else, and he got to the point where he wasnt like us. Gicle print on Hahnemuhle Photo Paper (Matt 210gr) 2021 Limited edition of 25, all prints are signed and numbered. During their sentencing hearing, in December 2005, the federal prosecutor asked for 11 to 14 years each for Eric, Chas, and Spencer, and 14 to 17 years for Warren, deeming him the leader, organizer, and recruiter. Theyre all slim and dressed identically in cheap sneakers and a khaki uniform emblazoned with their incarceration numbers, and all have hair down to their shoulders. I was expecting to play soccer quite a lot, but the coach was a completely different person once I got on the team, he tells me. Eric dropped the books, and he and Warren made a run for it. As they ran, they stumbled again into Chas, who had returned in another car as promised, just in time to save them and drive Eric to U.K. for his tennis-class exam. Shortly thereafter he was introduced to a Lexington Catholic alumnus who was making an easy living in identity theft. Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk and Charles Allen II were all between the ages of 19 and 20 at the time of the robbery. They're all slim and dressed identically in cheap sneakers and a khaki uniform emblazoned with their incarceration numbers, and all have hair down to their shoulders. When not at practice, Warren spent his time smoking pot, watching Comedy Central, and reading German philosophy. and local detectives. So we go back down to the bottom floor just to get away from her. Even if we wanted to, they won't let us. . The meeting initially hit a snag when Barry was put off by the boys youth. In fact, wedged in their backpacks was nearly three-quarters of a million dollars' worth of books and manuscripts: an 1859 first edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection ($25,000), an illuminated manuscript from 1425 ($200,000), a set of the two-volume 15th-century horticultural masterpiece entitled Hortus Sanitatis ($450,000), 20 original Audubon pencil drawings ($50,000), and Audubon's A Synopsis of the Birds of North America ($10,000). . And thats when I came up.. . In terms of the dollar amount involved and the extraordinary circumstances, the theft was one of the most significant in its history. Chas turned the G.T.A.V. They were skeptical, Warren recalls. Built over old tobacco fields in the 80s, they feature ponds with fountains, cookie-cutter brick Colonial houses, street names like Ironbridge Drive and Turnberry Lane, and regulations authorizing penalties for unkempt yards and tacky lawn Santas. Returning five minutes later with a rolling red suitcase in tow, Spencer opened it on the conference table. Churchill's statement can be agreed with. The investigation of the Transy Book Heist came to an explosive end on the morning of February 11, 2005, as a SWAT unit broke down the front door of the yellow bungalow with a battering ram, blasting stun grenades throughout the building. We had a few pitchers, feeling each other out. A 20-man task force of Lexington police and F.B.I. A 20-man task force of Lexington police and F.B.I. It had some tennis trivia in there that I wasnt expecting.. Oh, yeah, he almost got shot, says Eric, laughing. They went back up in the elevator, accidentally stopping on the main floor, where they were spotted by another librarian. Whilst Spencers life path may have been unorthodox at times one can only but admire what it has led him to. So we get the passport from the dude, plane tickets. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. as we left we were going to make an anonymous phone call so they knew she was up here, Eric continues. Warren and Eric got out of the G.T.A.V. Spencer believed it was an insurmountable problem. That was the point all along. The ground floor quickly filled with shouting cops, screaming young women, and a few dazed men in boxer shorts. Wearing a heavy coat, gloves, and a wool cap, Beckman signed the visitors' log. detective says. When Warren arrived, he saw a man fitting that description seated with three other men. Chas cursed Warren as an incompetent, and condemned the other two as burnouts, demanding that the three figure out a way to get the books appraised so they could move on to the next phase of the plan. I was kind of skeptical, continues Spencer, but the way I rationalized it was: its the biggest auction house. received two additional pieces of evidence from Christies: security-camera footage of the meeting and a cell-phone number the men had left behind. But before long they were put to chase once again, this time by two local thugs. opens the door for me and Im just like, Holy shit. I quickly came up with some fake name and started walking in and Im like, Oh, shit, this is gonna happen at any moment. So while Im shutting the doors I look back and Warren took her to the ground. Warren went up to the third floor to meet Gooch, while Eric waited downstairs for him to call. Again, Warren thought otherwise. That night Chas snapped, they say, fearing the Christie's book appraisalthe Jesus bolt holding Warren's entire heist plan togetherwas in danger of falling through. They also did considerable research on the Internet, using such key terms as auction house appraisals, stun guns, and Swiss bank accounts. For inspiration, they watched heist movies like Oceans 11 and Snatch. I was surprised he didnt.. I get the call on the cell phone. Mass Market Paperback. What they would tell me, then, is their version of eventsand the only complete account of the planning, execution, and aftermath of the heist. The plan is to continue using birds as my subjects but bringing back some of my earlier prison styles to take my work to the next level. They got security around that? Nonchalantly, very nonchalantly, I mean, just kind of shooting it between us. Warren made an appraisal appointment at Christies in New York for Walter Beckman, a pseudonym inspired by the soccer star David Beckham. Boom. I was born in Lexington, Kentucky and was raised by my wonderful parents in what was a largely carefree and happy childhood. This is the story you didnt get from the film. 214 E Main StLexington, KY United States 40507, (Shift + Enter to play/pause. When Halloran inquired about them, Spencer spoke up and offered to fetch them from the car. During a meeting in the basement, Warren convinced the other two that they were going to need a fourth, principally to help haul the nearly 250 pounds in Audubon folios out of the library. you know, it's. it was. Spencer called himself Mr. Stephens. Warren and Chas left the other two and staggered to the nearby China Club, a tacky West Side nightclub, which they knew about from the famous Rick James episode of Chappelle's Show. It was very punishing, that first couple of months in college. Mr. Beckman now wanted these books appraised. Afterward, they returned to the Hilton for an early night. Through it all, I never stopped making art. So we go back down to the bottom floor just to get away from her. Phase 2 ends when the loot is loaded into the G.T.A.V. believing that they had escaped with next to nothing. We felt bad., Warren and Eric rode the elevator to the basement, but they couldnt find the fire exit. He topped off his new living quarters with the last of his worldly belongings: a large-screen television, a DVD player, and a Sony PlayStation. agent discovered the stolen books, all undamaged, as well as the five-page typed plan for the heist, an accounting ledger, wigs, instructions for opening a Swiss bank account, and stun guns, which had apparently arrived after the robbery. Chas not only lived in the yellow bungalow but also was a part owner of it with his father, a prominent Lexington real-estate investor. The press invariably described them as good boys from good familiesupper-middle-class kids afforded every opportunity, the ones with the most to lose. Chas backs up [the van] and almost hits the woman as Eric comes around to the door. Spencers life story and his practice are indelibly linked, thus the works he has created are a highly personal meditation on the journey Spencer Reinhard experienced. After several phone calls Warren managed to arrange a meeting in New York. After prison I took up a casual interest in birds. Faced with overwhelming evidence, they all eventually confessed. Warren also ordered four stun guns over the Internet. With each taking one end of the Audubons, they made their way to the staff-only elevator. They checked into the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, Warren signing in under the nom de guerre Harry Ballsania name backed up with one of their fake Kentucky driver's licensesand paying in cash. The truth is, but for one obvious, big mistakethe trip to Christiesthey probably would have gotten away with it, a Lexington police detective told me. Sign up for The Gleaners morning and evening newsletters. Two weeks into his stay, Reinhard, an ardent ornithologist, whose works draw inspiration from late Dutch-American abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning, feels that his greatest artistic asset is his versatility. They take you in the Special Collections and show you these books, Spencer remembers, including Transy's prized Birds of America, by John James Audubon, a four-volume set of life-size engravings the pioneer wildlife artist completed in London in 1838. Because the boys made the highly unusual decision not to accept the prosecutor's offer to testify against one another during sentencing in exchange for leniency, they were each sentenced to identical seven-year terms. Indeed one might consider these years to be a catalyst with which he could find his unique vision. They climbed onto dorm roofs, where theyd stake out the library for hours at a time, marking down the comings and goings of teachers, students, and security personnel. So we go back to the guy in Lexington and we say, Listen, we want to go somewhere, we want to go out of the country, and we need documentation, Warren explains. The Lexington Police Department's commercial-burglary squad was assigned to the case. Each has a different style of facial hairmuttonchops (Lipka), a Fu Manchu (Borsuk), a Tom Selleck (Reinhard)which Lipka informs me they had carefully trimmed for my visit. The next day, they worked off their hangovers by checking out Ground Zero before strolling into the bustle of Chinatown for lunch. When Halloran inquired about them, Spencer spoke up and offered to fetch them from the car. onto nearby Fourth Street and careened through traffic before stopping a mile farther on, in front of a predominantly black housing project. as we left we were going to make an anonymous phone call so they knew she was up here, Eric continues. We are currently living there and have a one-year-old daughter. very unofficial.. For one, its cheaper, and this allowed me to work less and spend more time with my young daughter. See, we have no choice now but to create something new, someplace else. This story was recently documented in the feature film American Animals. Once the boys were inside the library, students stared at the ridiculous old-man disguises. They went back up in the elevator, accidentally stopping on the main floor, where they were spotted by another librarian. They jump in the van and peel out around the loop.. He added: Its always nice to be with people that are familiar with the area, and Ive been made to feel very welcome. They stopped talking entirely and disbanded. Warren and Spencer readied themselves early without waking the others, silently showering, shaving, and putting the finishing touches on their outfits. It was just funny because we've been in a lot of places that they've been, Eric says. The next day, they worked off their hangovers by checking out Ground Zero before strolling into the bustle of Chinatown for lunch. My son was born in January, so its been a busy time and I plan to take full advantage of the freedom I will have in Jamaica, Reinhard stated. He took a cab to Dam Square, an old hippie hangout in the center of the city he had read about on the Internet. In the fall of 2004, Warren Lipka moved into the unfinished basement. Shortly thereafter he was introduced to a Lexington Catholic alumnus who was making an easy living in identity theft. By that point Warren, Eric, and Spencer knew for certain they were going down. Phase 3 is the escape, which involves switching the G.T.A.V. For added anonymity, Warren bleached his hair blond that night. computers in the Lexington field office. After researching auction houses online, Warren singled out Christie's in New York. Were going to need more people, Warren remembers thinking. Warren sectioned off a bedroom by hanging bedsheets from the rafters and furnished it with an old mattress and a tangerine easy chair he had picked up from Goodwill. The painting is a kaleidoscope of images, including what appears to be a computer, a cell phone, a bong, the Transylvania library, and loose sheets of notepaper, floating above a desiccated one-eyed young man in a watch cap, kicking back on a beat-up couch with a blue dog on his lap. Phase 1 begins at the bungalow when all four get into what Warren designated the G.T.A.V., or the Go-to-and-Away-Vehicle, all disguised as old men. is parked in front of the library and the four are in 1st Position at bottom of stairs of library.. In their senior year the two became local celebrities after a dramatic photo appeared in the Lexington Herald-Leader showing Lexington Catholic star goalkeeper Lipka and Tates Creek forward Reinhard battling midair during a playoff game. The meeting initially hit a snag when Barry was put off by the boys' youth. The two men followed the librarian into the Rare Book Room, and John closed the door behind them. Spencer, meanwhile, was short, wiry, distant, and in many ways Warrens opposite: an over-scheduled, over-achieving, diamond-tipped drill of a kid who excelled at whatever he set himself to. Seeing something in the wayward Warren, the preppy grifter pitched him the idea of selling fake Kentucky drivers licenses in the U.K. dorms. They all pled guilty to federal charges of robbery and. She also said that she was so suspicious and put off by the young mens youth and demeanor that she had recommended to her boss that they not pursue the business. Spencer drives me out to Lexington [Blue Grass Airport] on a Friday. Oct 16, 2018. After the Halloran interview the F.B.I. Spencer Reinhard and Warren Lipka had grown up together in adjacent subdivisions on Lexington's south sidefully planned residential tracts wedged in between the city and the gradually receding horse country that rings it. Darren Matthews. Once safely back in Lexington, the two created a Yahoo account and sent off the e-mail in which they claimed to have unspecified rare books in their possession, using the name Terry, as instructed. There were all sorts of theories as to why they had done it: they were drug addicts; they had amassed large gambling debtsor Lipkas father had, and the boys did it to save the familys honor (the variant most popular with the local papers). The minimum-security Federal Correctional Institution in Ashland, Kentucky, 125 miles from Lexington, houses approximately 1,200 inmates in multi-story cellblocks encircled by concentric layers of razor-topped fencing and fortified guard towers. 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