‘It’s gutting.’ A local artist says a thief in a ski mask stole his painting from a Somerville gallery.

Adam Leveille posed for a portrait at his home studio in Somerville. He says one of his paintings was stolen from a local art exhibit by a masked thief.Erin Clark/Globe Staff

SOMERVILLE — As an artist, it’s nice for your work to be coveted.

But not like this.

The lengths one person went to steal two paintings made by Somerville artists have left the local arts community nursing emotional wounds.

“It’s gutting,” said Adam Leveille, whose painting, an oil-on-linen depiction of the now-closed Nissenbaum’s Auto Parts near Union Square, was one of two lifted in an apparent heist earlier this month at Somerville’s Prospect Union Square building.

“I want people to have my artwork. To have somebody just be so brazen in taking it, that’s the real violation,” he said in an interview.

The theft is still unsolved. Somerville Police Captain Jeffrey DiGregorio said he couldn’t comment on an active investigation but confirmed the department received a report that two pieces of artwork had been stolen just before 3 a.m. on Jan. 7 at that address. Jenn Libby, the building’s general manager, said she couldn’t comment on the investigation but was “deeply disheartened by the recent theft of artwork.”

The painting, called “Nissenbaum, midday,” had been part of an exhibit in the building curated by Somerville Open Studios, the group that typically hosts events in which the public is invited to tour the studios of local artists.

The exhibit, called Visions of Somerville, featured a roster of more than a dozen Somerville artists and was set to run from Jan. 6 to April 1.

When it launched, one painting from each artist was strung up from the ceiling by wires in a publicly accessible hallway near the building’s lobby, people involved with the exhibit said.

Leveille said he was told by staff at the building who viewed security footage of the incident that it showed an apparent thief enter the building wearing a ski mask, slice the wires holding two paintings aloft with a knife, and then run off.

Libby declined to discuss or share the purported footage and wouldn’t comment on whether there was, indeed, a ski mask-wearing thief, but said in a statement that building management remains “committed to fostering a vibrant and inclusive arts community in Union Square and will do everything in our power to ensure such an incident does not happen again.”

To protect the other artworks, the gallery was promptly taken down, said Peter Belford, who sits on the board of directors for Somerville Open Studios.

“It’s disappointing. It’s horrible,” he said. “We’re working to help local artists, feature local artists, and put their art into public spaces. For one person to do something that prevents us from doing that is very unfortunate.”

Plans to open a new gallery in the building are now in the works, the building manager and Belford said.

“We won’t let this stop us from trying to bring arts to the community and support local artists,” Belford said.

Why someone would steal these particular paintings is a mystery to Leveille.

While he said he is proud to have a following of patrons who support his work, the painting itself likely would have sold for around $2,000. A decent amount of money, sure, but the Gardner Museum heist it was not.

“You’re not running off with a Sargent painting,” he said.

Building management has offered to compensate him for the value of the artwork, which he appreciates, but the painting also had significant sentimental value. Leveille said he chose to paint the decommissioned salvage yard, which closed in 2022, because he has fond memories of visiting it with his grandfather, who sourced car parts there.

“It feels personal,” he said. “It’s something that I spent a lot of time with. I put a lot of energy and emotion and hours into it.”

Allen Nissenbaum, who owns the auto parts property in the painting, said in an interview he hadn’t seen the artwork before it was stolen but was “honored” Leveille had created such a loving tribute. How did he feel about it being stolen? “Pissed,” he said.

The fact that this theft happened so soon after the gallery launched and that the thief targeted his painting so quickly, Leveille said, suggests perhaps that he was being targeted. He just can’t understand why.

If it was someone who liked the painting but was on a budget, he said, he would have been happy to work something out with them. He’s done so in the past with other potential buyers, either by offering discounts to people with limited means or by helping fans find smaller and less expensive paintings they can afford.

This was different. “It’s not a conversation. It’s not a negotiation. It’s just literally brute force,” Leveille said.

While there is no evidence yet the incidents are related, the theft has drawn comparisons to the unusual case this time last year when someone — still unidentified — sliced a depiction of a painting by Somerville artist Pauline Lim out from a vinyl banner hanging outside a building on Joy Street, not far from the scene of this month’s theft.

For his part, Leveille doesn’t expect to see his painting again. “Unless somebody gets busted doing something else and there’s my painting on the wall,” he said.

Still, he feels compelled to speak out publicly about what happened and has asked on his Instagram account and on Reddit for anyone with information about the heist, or who might have seen his painting appear somewhere, to come forward.

If anything, he just wants to let potential area art thieves know they can’t steal from local artists with impunity.

“I want whoever stole it to hear that people are looking for it,” he said. “It’s not one and done, and you got away with it.”

Adam Leveille posed for a portrait at his home studio in Somerville.Erin Clark/Globe Staff