£3,000 artwork is stolen... police hunt comes up against a brick wall

Police are on the hunt for a thief who stole a brick on sale for £3,000 at an art gallery and replaced it with a standard 40p house brick.

The work, entitled Revolting Brick, by artist Gavin Turk, was on display at the Area 10 Project Space in Peckham.

The thief even placed a message on the replacement house brick reading: "Thank you, have a nice day."

Turk, 42, who signed the artwork, is a Young British Artist of the same school as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. His work can sell for tens of thousands of pounds.

Show organiser Jack Burton is offering a reward for anyone with information about the brick, which was stolen last Thursday.

He said: "The artist is upset, but flattered, by the theft. We want to get the brick back - it's such a shame for the show to end this way, with a police investigation."

Gallery organisers issued a statement saying: "An artwork by famous artist Gavin Turk was stolen from the Bricks exhibition. It consisted of a red brick signed and dated by Turk, and was number eight in a series of 10."

Caroline Lewis, 32, who visited the show, said: "One minute you were looking at a signed brick and the next a normal one. To be honest, there wasn't much difference, but the point is that someone had the nerve to steal Gavin's brick and replace it with another, readily prepared, brick with a message on it.

"It's funny really and is in itself a piece of art, but I think in this case the brick should be returned."