Christine Kay
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (July 22/02) - Two months after police seized 200 prints from the Ray Lovell Art Studio, charges have still not been laid.

Lovell, a resident of Iqaluit, bought the prints from a well-known artist in Panniqtuuq.

He then worked out a deal with a city coffee shop owner to get a little more publicity by hanging some of the framed works in the establishment.

But when an instructor from Nunavut Arctic College recognized the pieces as works stolen from her students, she notified police.

When police arrived at the Baffin Correctional Centre, where Lovell works as a chef, he thought it was a practical joke.

"I knew the man I bought the prints from for seven years. He's a registered artist. I didn't expect him to rip me off. I bought those prints as an investment," says Lovell.

Those investments have cost him about $20,000 in artwork and framing materials.

Once he realized the police weren't joking, Lovell contacted the people he sold prints to. He reimbursed his clients, took the works out of the frames and handed them over to the RCMP.

"I had a lot of the prints at the studio and then I started finding some at home. I was freaking out. I was just taking them off the wall and handing them over," he says.

Lovell says the scandal has opened a big can of worms. And RCMP Const. Alex Lyon agrees. He says the investigation is still underway and that information from other detachments in Nunavut is needed before it can proceed further.

Lyon says that about 50 prints are still missing.

As the investigation continues, Lovell says he is glad to see artists and institutions like Arctic College adopting the use of stamps that authenticate each piece of art. He says this might help avoid situations like his in the future. But Lovell is devastated by the idea that a friend did something like this. He still does not understand how it happened. But what he wants is to put an end to it.

"They still haven't busted his chops. I can understand, in a way, that there's more important things like stabbings going on, but ..."

As far as Lovell is concerned, he's already written off the money he lost.

He says the only thing he's changed in the way he does business is that he doesn't buy prints unless they are from the museum, the college or a licensed print shop.

Lovell says he was furious and very hostile, but is now ready to move on. And he might just be able to do that soon.

Const. Lyon said he anticipates making an arrest within the next couple of weeks.