LA painter's bank on fire work heats up art world (AP)

LOS ANGELES – Alex Schaefer is the hot Los Angeles artist of the moment, thanks to a couple of oil-on-canvas works showing banks burning down.

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Although his work has been displayed at several galleries over the years, Schaefer was mostly an obscure figure in the art world whose pieces rarely fetched more than $1,000.

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With flames leaping through the bank's roof, the work began to take on a look similar to Ed Ruscha's acclaimed 1966 "Burning Gas Station." Schaefer says several passers-by stopped to give him a thumb's up.

LA painter's bank on fire work heats up art world (AP)