There are thefts of paintings worth millions, and then there are thefts of objects of lesser monetary value whose worth cannot be entirely quantified. The mysterious taking of a sculpture of Elvis Presley at the New York restaurant Jolene in 2021 falls into the latter category, but it’s of art-world interest because it involves a painter of note.
This bizarre heist is the subject of a new investigation in the New Yorker, and it turns out that artist Jo Messer took part, reportedly aiding her father Sam Messer, also a painter, and her mother Eleanor Gaver, a filmmaker, in thieving the Elvis bust. Jo has had solo shows with galleries such as 56 Henry and Morán Morán.
According to the New Yorker, Gaver bought the Elvis in 1984 and placed it in the window of the Great Jones Cafe, where she worked at the time. That restaurant closed in 2017, and in 2019, another eatery with different ownership, the Jones, opened in its place. (During the pandemic, it rebranded as Jolene.) Gaver and her husband made the decision to take back the Elvis after asking for it back and being denied.
In 2021, Gaver reportedly wrested the Elvis from Jolene. The New Yorker reported that she entered the restaurant, took it, and left with it while her husband and her daughter waited outside. Messer père had left Vishwas Wesley, the general manager of Jolene, with his name and number, but, Jo told the New Yorker, “I was like, ‘Why would you give them our information?’” She then left Wesley with $100.
The drama did not end there. Jo continued to DM with the restaurant on Instagram, which had posted about its search for the Elvis sculpture, spurring an outcry among New Yorkers. “It’s not your history—it’s our history,” Jo told the New Yorker, responding to the restaurant’s contention that the sculpture was a valuable piece of East Village lore to which it could lay claim.
We won’t spoil the rest of the New Yorker story, but we’ll tease it by saying it also includes a police investigation, the novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, and allegations that Jolene had ripped off John Baldessari on Instagram.
