Did the Burglar Who Broke into Miley Cyrus’ Home Steal Her Art?

Miley Cyrus. Photo: UrbanSplatter.

Rusty Edward Sellner, a man accused of breaking into Miley Cyrus’s Los Angeles home and stealing her personal property has been charged with burglary, receiving stolen property, and grand theft, Reuters reports. The 22 year-old, who has had similar prior convictions, pleaded not guilty to all the charges during a hearing on Wednesday.

According to prosecutors, Sellner broke into the home of the twerking star, located in the neighborhood of Toluca Lake, on December 14, 2014. He is thought to have taken large amounts of personal items belonging to Cyrus and her brother. However, no mention of her colorful assemblage sculptures has been made (see “Miley Cyrus Makes Erotic Sculptures”), suggesting the burglar was not in it “for the art.”

Cyrus began making art last year, as a therapy to overcome a series of personal setbacks. “I hated 2014 because everything that could go wrong kept going wrong,” she told V Magazine. “Being in the hospital, my dog dying … So then I started taking all of those shit things and making them good, and being like, ‘I’m using it.’”

In true King Midas spirit, Cyrus’ “shit” has now become gold. Cyrus first unveiled her art last September, in the exhibition “Dirty Hippie,” staged during New York Fashion Week. But it was after their presentation at the Raleigh Hotel, during Art Basel in Miami last December, that Miley Cyrus the visual artist became a reality (see “Miley Cyrus Takes Art Basel, Thanks to Jeffrey Deitch”).

The event, one of the hottest tickets at the glamorous art Basel in Miami Beach fair, was organized by gallerist Jeffrey Deitch, who was overheard by artnet News comparing Cyrus to cult artist Mike Kelley (see “Jeffrey Deitch Compares “Remarkable” Miley Cyrus to Mike Kelley“). “It’s southern outsider art,” Deitch said. “Very close to Mike Kelley. We have a remarkable situation where someone channels her vision through music, art, theater, and fashion,” he enthused in December.


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