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| Artist's £8,000 cheque hidden in Milton Keynes gallery pulls in crowds | Artist's £8,000 cheque hidden in Milton Keynes gallery pulls in crowds |
| (4 months later) | |
| As a stream of art lovers pours into the art gallery in Milton Keynes, spending hours studying the exhibits intently and from every angle, the Swiss artists Silvia Bächli and Eric Hattan must be touched and surprised at what a hit their exhibition has proved. Only the fact that the visitors are looking just as intently at light fittings, skirting boards, door jambs and window sills gives the game away. | As a stream of art lovers pours into the art gallery in Milton Keynes, spending hours studying the exhibits intently and from every angle, the Swiss artists Silvia Bächli and Eric Hattan must be touched and surprised at what a hit their exhibition has proved. Only the fact that the visitors are looking just as intently at light fittings, skirting boards, door jambs and window sills gives the game away. |
| "No, nobody has found it yet," Katharine Sorensen, the gallery's communications director, said with the slightly weary air of a woman who has spent most of the last three days on the phone or doing live interviews with media all over the world, since the news spread that local artist Tomas Georgeson had hidden a signed cheque for £8,000 somewhere in the gallery. | "No, nobody has found it yet," Katharine Sorensen, the gallery's communications director, said with the slightly weary air of a woman who has spent most of the last three days on the phone or doing live interviews with media all over the world, since the news spread that local artist Tomas Georgeson had hidden a signed cheque for £8,000 somewhere in the gallery. |
| "We've had hundreds of people through looking everywhere, and obviously we've all had a look, but nobody has seen a trace of it. If," she added darkly, "it is actually there to find." | "We've had hundreds of people through looking everywhere, and obviously we've all had a look, but nobody has seen a trace of it. If," she added darkly, "it is actually there to find." |
| The artist, best known as a painter whose portrait of his father was included in a 2011 National Portrait Gallery exhibition, has gone to ground. The gallery insists that far from being its own publicity stunt, it knew nothing about the cheque until it heard about it from the media. Georgeson said he had done it "as something positive in a town eager to establish itself as a cultural destination". | The artist, best known as a painter whose portrait of his father was included in a 2011 National Portrait Gallery exhibition, has gone to ground. The gallery insists that far from being its own publicity stunt, it knew nothing about the cheque until it heard about it from the media. Georgeson said he had done it "as something positive in a town eager to establish itself as a cultural destination". |
| Assuming the cheque does exist and nobody finds it, the artist has said he will retrieve it on 1 March. Meanwhile the gallery has had to bring in extra staff to guard the displays, although Georgeson said it was not hidden "on or around" any of the works of art, and urged visitors to take great care not to cause any damage. | Assuming the cheque does exist and nobody finds it, the artist has said he will retrieve it on 1 March. Meanwhile the gallery has had to bring in extra staff to guard the displays, although Georgeson said it was not hidden "on or around" any of the works of art, and urged visitors to take great care not to cause any damage. |
| "We have definitely seen more people in," Sorensen said, with a tiny sigh. "Which is great – obviously." | "We have definitely seen more people in," Sorensen said, with a tiny sigh. "Which is great – obviously." |
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