Museum Officials Confirm Art Theft at Laguna Annex

COSTA MESA — The Laguna Art Museum has confirmed that a work of art was stolen last month from its satellite at South Coast Plaza--the first such loss, according to museum officials, since the annex was opened in 1984.

The disappearance of George Goodrich’s mixed-media work “Dawn Patrol” was discovered Sept. 7 during gallery hours by an employee making a security check. The 13 3/4-by-15 1/4-inch work, owned by the artist, had been part of “Kustom Kulture,” a popular exhibition that continues through Nov. 7.

The piece--which museum officials say was insured for its full value, which they declined to divulge--contains a three-dimensional gray model plane projecting from the surface of a painting. Three “flying eyeballs” are shown skimming over the crests of waves. The work is a homage to Von Dutch, one of the legends of car customizing, who invented the flying eyeball graphic in the 1930s.

Bolton Colburn, the museum’s curator of collections, said he knows of no specific market for the work.

George Wilson, a spokesman for the Costa Mesa Police Department, said there are no leads in the case.

“There was no forced entry, no fingerprints and no suspects,” he said.