An unusual heist seems to be unfolding at Taco Bell

When artist Mark Smith stepped off the plane from New York and arrived in Louisville, Kentucky, on that fateful day in the early 2000s, he knew he was about to enter one of the most important critiques of his entire career. 

But Smith wasn’t doing a studio visit with the owners of a prestigious gallery — he was meeting with the corporate executives of Taco Bell, the California fast food chain that peddles Crunchwrap Supremes and Baja Blasts to the masses. 

This was back in 2002 or 2003, before the company even created these artificial masterpieces. At the time, Smith was trying to convince them to let him make three paintings that would eventually get rolled out to most, if not all, Taco Bell locations in the U.S. At first, not everyone in the room was onboard with the concept because it was so expensive: It would require making prints of his Basquiat-like paintings, stretching them on canvas and then hanging them in each store to make them feel like real art as opposed to ubiquitous branded messaging. 

But, against these odds, Smith got the green light of approval, and the pieces were distributed in 2003. Over the course of his expansive career, he’s been commissioned to work on projects for major clients like Absolut Vodka, DaimlerChrysler and the Olympics, cementing his status as a professional artist. Life went on, and the trio of paintings faded into memory. 

Then, people suddenly started stealing them. 

‘I never expected this to happen’

It all began in 2015 in Westlake, Ohio, when a burglar ran off with one of his pieces and disappeared, stumping local police, Artnet reported. Four years earlier, a group of teenagers and young adults also tried stealing an unnamed “painting valued at $157” from a Taco Bell in the same location, CBS reported, though details about its provenance are scant. Following the heist, officers declared to outlets that they were “going to search every dorm room and rumpus room in a ten mile radius,” though they never answered SFGATE’s request for more information about the outcome.

“I never expected this to happen,” Smith chuckled in a recent video interview with SFGATE. He still has one of the news articles framed on his wall because “they made it sound like they were talking about the Mona Lisa,” he continued. Though Taco Bell purchased the originals for their corporate offices in 2003, he explained, the prints have scattered like seeds in the underground art market, where they’re now listed for sale for as much as $10,000 apiece.

By now, Smith is well aware of this scheme, but he’s still shocked by how outrageously expensive the prints have become. He doesn’t know how people continue to get their hands on them, either. 

But, apparently, all it takes is a little sleuthing and entrepreneurial spirit.

The unlikely black market for Taco Bell art

“I’m real nervous about this,” said Blake Boesky, an eBay seller and former “international lotion salesman” who recently got his hands on some of the paintings.

“I don’t want to get anybody in trouble, but the gentlemen I purchased it from renovates Taco Bells,” he told SFGATE over the phone. “And he says they throw these out sometimes now because they don’t know what to do with them.” Though Taco Bell and Yum! Brands press representatives never responded to multiple requests for comment, this method seems to be quite common.

Deep in the trenches of Reddit, there are threads explaining how most paintings from these remodels wind up in the trash — but every now and then, they reappear on secondhand sites like Mercari and eBay for $300 to $750. Unsurprisingly, it seems like employees are in on it. 

Multiple users who claimed to manage Taco Bell stores said they took the art during renovations and were willing to pawn the pieces off, while others lamented that shift leads and higher-ups ran off with them, beating their subordinates to it. This trend appears to date all the way back to one of the first heists in Westlake, Ohio: According to CBS, the thieves’ getaway driver was an 18-year-old former employee. 

Boesky, who first found paintings on Facebook Marketplace in Michigan, said that he’ll probably keep them if no one ends up buying them for thousands of dollars. But for now, he’s taking his chances. 

“Sometimes I feel like you need to set the tone to create some value,” he continued. 

When you look at them in person, it’s easy to understand why people would want to keep the artwork for their personal collections.  

Originally made with layered paper, crayon and acrylic paint, the paintings possess the playfulness of Jean-Michel Basquiat, or the abstract expressionist bravado of Willem de Kooning. One appears to portray a butterfly in a sky full of stars; another resembles an abstract, otherworldly figure framed by symbols that dance and coalesce in colorful harmony — the perfect pairing for a Chalupa Supreme drowned in acidic Diablo sauce.  

According to Smith, these three works — “Drive Thru Man,” “Mothman,” and “Empty” — each pay homage to American painter Maxfield Parrish and utilize clever motifs that have dual aesthetic and commercial purposes.

While he had plenty of artistic freedom, there were still a few basic rules he had to follow: No “subliminal images,” no “devil worship” and no “displays of carnality,” Smith said. He also had to make the work align with Taco Bell’s “processed, plastic” color scheme. “It was a challenging palette.” 

“Drive Thru Man,” which is dotted with gray cars that pass through a bell-shaped icon and emerge as vibrant hot rods, points to the late-night fast food culture — a natural choice for Smith, who collects cars and motorcycles. Another piece, “Mothman,” quite literally represents what it feels like to be a drunk moth aimlessly floating toward Taco Bell’s much-too-accessible flame. Lastly, “Empty” — the one with the distressed looking yellow figure — was designed to evoke what it feels like to be struck by hunger pangs and low blood sugar, which is represented by the fuel gauge above his head. The bell floating above him is also a light bulb: a solution to his problem. 

Going outside the Cravings Box

For Smith, who was classically trained at the Pratt Institute, this project was a unique opportunity to break down the traditional barriers of the art world, which thrives on exclusivity. 

Museums and galleries don’t care about reaching fast food customers, Smith said, adding that very few people actually buy art. Not to mention, galleries can be intimidating, he continued. Because of this, he also had to make sure that his work didn’t alienate Taco Bell’s loyal customers, who eat there approximately twice a month. Though it seems trivial, Smith said it was a project that required “complete focus.” 

That’s because paintings function much differently in a roadside Taco Bell as opposed to, say, the Louvre. While the goal was to create work that customers could discover new details in every time they returned for a Cheesy Gordita Crunch, Smith also hoped it would have a broader influence that would outlast the paintings themselves. 

“I believe that this project was an opportunity to create artwork for an audience as a gateway to other artistic experiences,” he said. “Every artist has a point of departure — a comic book, movie lyric, riff, novel — but something often contributes to the start of the artistic journey.”

These days, he’s still in awe that people are giving his 20-year-old paintings new life. But the desire to live mas, it seems, is eternal.