Artists’ studio vandalised, numerous works destroyed

Police in Limassol on Thursday are searching for a suspect that vandalised dozens of artworks at a shared studio, after breaking in a few days ago.

According to information given to the Cyprus Mail by one of the artists Vito Xenodochides, the suspect broke in sometime before 9am, and began slashing canvases and breaking sculptures in the space.

At 9am another artist Giorgos Heracleous, with whom Xenodochides shares the studio, entered to find the suspected vandal, who he told police was a large blonde man, holding knives.

When the artist asked what he was doing and said he would call the police, the man pushed Heracleous to the ground, and escaped on a bicycle.

Xenodochides said that the suspect had managed to break in from an upstairs window that had been left open on accident.

Describing the extent of the damage, the artist told Cyprus Mail that over 40 of his artworks had been destroyed by the vandal.

He slashed many of his canvases, as per a social media post of the incident.

“Some of the works he damaged were over 20 years old,” he said, adding that the damage to his art will cost him greatly.

Xenodochides said that he could repair some of the works through time-consuming effort and painstaking work. He added that 40 of his works had been damaged in the vandal’s rampage, and four of the other artist’s were also damaged.

Police were called to the scene on Tuesday, where Xenodochides said they did not do much the first day.

However, on Wednesday they came back and collected fingerprints and took testimony from the artists on the incident.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, Limassol police spokesman Lefteris Kyriacou said that they are also examining CCTV footage of the area to find the suspect.