Minivan stolen in Bucktown had unusual rope sculpture inside

It’s not an insult to suggest that whoever stole Chicago artist Victoria Fuller’s “Rope Trick” sculpture might have taken one look at the piece and tossed it in the trash.

The sculpture — which was inside a minivan that thieves stole from her Bucktown garage some time between July 31 and Aug. 2 — looks exactly like a piece of old, coiled rope. In fact, the piece was cast in resin and, if you look closely, one end has been fashioned into a tiny snake’s head.

“It’s very detailed,” Fuller told the Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday. “It took me about three months to make.”

The piece, which measures two feet by two feet and is about 11 inches tall, had recently been on display at the Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, Fuller said, adding she hadn’t yet had the chance to unload the piece from her van.

Fuller said the piece has been valued at about $4,500. She’s offering a $500 reward for the piece’s safe return.

“I’m hoping that if [the thieves] did throw it away, and if someone finds it in a dumpster or alley, then I can get it back,” Fuller said.

Fuller said there are no signs of a break in on her property, leading her to suspect thieves used a “universal” garage opener to get in.

The minivan was stolen from inside of Fuller’s garage near Damen and Wabansia, Chicago police say. The minivan is a blue 2005 Chrysler Town and Country with an Illinois environmental license plate of 83749EN, police said.

Anyone with information about the minivan or the sculpture is asked to contact Area North detectives at (312) 744-8263.