A report revealed that artist Jo Messer was involved in stealing an Elvis Presley sculpture from a New York café in 2021.
In 2021, an Elvis Presley sculpture was stolen from the hip New York restaurant Jolene. While the sculpture itself wasn’t of great value, it grabbed headlines because it used to be a centre of attraction for many social media users, as well as because of its subject’s popularity. At the time of the theft, it was not revealed who was responsible for it. Eventually, the event faded from public memory.
However, a New Yorker investigative report has dug up the event once again, and this time with some damming revelations. It turns out the people behind the theft were artist Jo Messer, her father Sam Messer, and her mother Eleanor Gaver. The report has stirred up a conversation because instead of random civilians, the accused is a rather well-known artist. Jo Messer has had solo shows with galleries like Morán Morán and 56 Henry. Her parents also come from arts backgrounds; her father is a painter while her mother is a filmmaker.
So what drove the family to commit a robbery in broad daylight? According to the report, Gaver claims to have bought the Elvis Presley bust in 1984 and placed it on the window of the Great Jones Café, where she worked at the time. In 2017, the restaurant closed; in 2019, a new restaurant called the Jones opened in its place. A couple of years later, the restaurant rebranded once again as Jolene. All this time, the Elvis bust remained at the restaurant. When Gaver and her family requested Jolene to return the bust to them, they were denied.
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It was then, in 2021, that the family decided to take the bust with force. Gaver entered the café one afternoon and grabbed the sculpture, while Jo Messer left $100 in its place. Despite being aware, Jolene continued to seek the return of the bust on social media.
