Helmet House replaces $15,000 stolen art

Original art isn’t replaceable, but there’s always an exception.

In October 2003, thieves stole an original bronze sculpture, “The Ride,” which was on display in front of Helmet House Inc., the Calabasas-based motorcycle helmet and apparel distributor.

Last Wednesday, Helmet House replaced the missing image with newly crafted artwork by world-renowned motorcycle sculptor Steve Posson and his wife, art director Liselotte BjorckPosson. The new statue is an exact duplicate of the original, according to Richard Kimes, National Marketing Manager of Helmet House Inc.

“We’re thrilled to have this monumental piece of art back in our home,” Kimes said. “(The statue) not only signifies the love of motorcycling, which many of us at Helmet House both share in and make our living through, but it’s also a symbol for the wonderful ride that (the founders of Helmet House) have gone through in the building of this company. It’s really a symbol of what we’re all about and what we all try to be about.”

“The Ride,” both the original art and the replacement, depicts a male motorcyclist and a female passenger. The sculpture is more than three feet high, weighs 400 pounds and is mounted on a custom-made, four-foot tall concreteand-granite pedestal.

“It’s not something that thieves could’ve slipped in their pocket,” said Helmet House President Bob Miller. “They needed torches, a truck and a predetermined plan. They had to heat or cut the steel rods—or both—that connected the sculpture to the base.”

Helmet House commissioned the original sculpture to be built and installed in 1998, one of the first pieces in the Art in Public Places program for Calabasas.

Helmet House employees were devastated when they discovered that someone had stolen their beloved sculpture, said Tiffany Tadeo, Helmet House administrative assistant.

But “The Ride” was more than just an emotional loss, according to Tadeo.

“The statue itself is like one out of five in the world,” and was worth $15,000, Tadeo said at the time of the theft. The replacement sculpture cost just a little more than $15,000, according to Kimes.

“We were touched and even more saddened by the reaction of our employees to the theft,” said Helmet House Vice President Phil Bellomy. “We didn’t realize how much it meant to them.”

Helmet House does have security cameras, but they weren’t recording surveillance at the time of the theft, according to Tadeo.

Helmet House headquarters is on Malibu Hills Road, just off Lost Hills Road and not far from Lost Hills Sheriff ’s Station. Even that didn’t stop the thieves, Tadeo said.

“We’ve thoroughly upgraded the security systems, guarding (the new statue) 24-7 so that this doesn’t happen again,” Kimes said. “That’s as much as I can say.”

The original sculpture, crafted by the same artists who replaced the artwork, was never recovered and the criminals were never caught, Helmet House officials said. Last year, after Helmet House exhausted its investigation of the stolen art, the company commissioned Posson and his wife to make the duplicate sculpture.