Artist claims work stolen from IndyFurCon parking lot, offers reward
Kigai Holt is an artist whose works include anthro art. Although not considering himself a furry, and not being deeply involved in the furry fandon, Kigai attended last weekend's IndyFurCon 2013 to sell commissions in the Artists' Alley.
According to journals posted on deviantART and Fur Affinity, Kigai enjoyed the convention and was able to sell several commissions; but the experience was soured when his car was broken into, and his original artwork and art supplies stolen.
The alleged theft took place on Sunday (August 11). At 3:30pm that day, the Artists' Alley closed, and at that point Kigai deposited his example artwork (kept in a blue accordian folder) and art supplies in his car, before returning to the convention. At around 7pm, Kigai went back to his car to find one of the windows broken, and two bags (containing his original art and supplies) missing. Other valuables in the car were untouched, leading Kigai to speculate that the artwork was specifically targeted.
Kigai says he filed a report with the Indianapolis police, and has let it be known that a "handsome reward" is being offered for the stolen folder, or information that leads to its recovery.
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Higgs Raccoon — read stories — contact (login required)a (No longer a Flayrah contributor)
Comments
For those not at IFC: the car park is a multistory building separate from the hotel, trivially accessible by foot and car, with no obvious monitoring. While I wouldn't call the area "unsafe", property crime risk is elevated in the area.
The lesson applies everywhere: if you have to keep something you don't want to lose in your car, keep it locked out of sight.
The standard advice to put anything you don't want stolen in the trunk so it won't attract attention is usually pretty sound.
I do find it amusing that this person goes to and sells at furry cons, does furry art and has an account on FA, but claims they're not a furry. O-kay!
There are a lot of people who enjoy drawing animals that find that their works can sell to the fandom without being in the fandom.
A convention is indeed a business gathering by premise in the world outside of furry. Furrys, obviously, don't typically treat it as a professional affair. It doesn't surprise me that there are exceptions to this rule.
Also, as I have discussed before the word, furry has extreme ambiguity. There are some that enjoy creating and consuming anthropomorphic works who don't see themselves as part of the social group that call themselves furries. So they are not "furry", but they are "furry".
AKA, they like Star Trek, but they're not a "Trekkie".
I always found it kind of amusing how people will bend over backwards to say they're not a furry, while in the midst of doing furry activities. Given the stigma furry has it's understandable, but the very loud public denial still come across as "The lady doth protesteth too much." I mean, to use the Star Trek analogy, if someone went to Trek events, built and sold Trek merchandise, were active on a Trek-specific website and made a portion of their income from other Star Trek con attendees, it would be safe to assume that person was involved with Star Trek. If they did all that then loudly proclaimed they were not into Trek and were nothing like those "other" losers who were Trekkies, they would just be laughed at.
TL:DR-- if you go to furry cons, draw and sell furry art, and are active on a furry website, you're a furry. Deal with it.
I think people get over-sensitized to what people choose to call themselves. Getting angry about it certainly isn't going to change their minds. If non-furries want to come to the conventions to sell their art, especially if it's GOOD art, we should welcome outsides...
You know, that whole thing of tolerance we like to preach.
"TL:DR-- if you go to furry cons, draw and sell furry art, and are active on a furry website, you're a furry. Deal with it."
Indeed!
"If the shoe fits, wear it."
"If it look like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably IS a duck."
Furry is short for "furry fan;" fan is short for "fanatic."
You can like something without liking it fanatically; it's a fair cop.
This is why I never leave anything in my vehicle anymore. I take my lesson from my older sister who had her car broken into a few years back. She and a couple of friends from her workplace went into one of those mall outlets for shopping (they live in Houston). They were only gone for a couple of hours when someone smashed one of the windows in her car and took her GPS system among other electronic equipment while they were away. IIRC it totaled in value around the $400-500 mark. She filed a police report and everything but they never caught the perpetrators, nor she was able to ever recover her stolen stuff.
As for Kigais case, I would keep my eyes peeled on anyone he might know, furry or non furry, that was at IFC at the time and watch for any suspicious activity. A little detective work can go a long way.
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