A Jasminite piece and a wax sculpture were stolen from the All Out Design Gallery on Sarsfield Street.

The gallery is hosting a solo show by emerging local artist Ana Carey called Practice of Process, and it was Ms Carey who arrived at the gallery to find the front window smashed and the pieces missing.

"I turned up at 7.30 last Wednesday morning and found the window smashed and two of my babies gone, so I wasn't too pleased," said Ms Carey this week.

"I am in pure shock about the whole thing. I have no idea why anybody would want to steal them – maybe they caught their eye and they liked them," said Ms Carey.

She added that both pieces were cast from the same mould and "had owners to go to, so I have lost out. I was going to Dublin to deliver this Friday, but unfortunately those pieces now are gone.

"It is like a dig with a smirk, someone stealing your art, but I just have to let it go and not think about it, just drive on. It wasn't nice."

Garda Paula Cregan, Henry Street, described the incident as "an unusual theft".

"These are not really the type of items you would generally see thieves trying to sell on and are not really of any value to the thieves, so I would say it is a pretty stupid crime to commit, and will only cause grief and expense to the owner," said Garda Cregan.