Boy Sticks Gum On $1.5 Million Painting At Museum

[matcom]

<snip>

DETROIT -- The Detroit Institute of Arts is stuck with having to repair a painting worth $1.5 million.

It has to remove a stain left by a wad of gum stuck on the painting by a 12-year-old visitor.

It happened Friday. Museum officials said the boy was with a group from Holly Academy in Oakland County, Mich., when he took the gum out of his mouth and stuck it on Helen Frankenthaler's 1963 abstract painting "The Bay."

The gum didn't stick to the fiber of the canvas, but left a stain the size of a quarter. Museum experts are researching the chemicals in the gum to decide how to clean the painting.

Holly Academy director Julie Kildee said the boy had been suspended from the charter school and said his parents also have disciplined him.

"Even though we give very strict guidelines on proper behavior and we hold students to high standards, he is only 12 and I don't think he understood the ramifications of what he did before it happened, but he certainly understands the severity of it now," said Kildee.

http://www.wftv.com/education/7540691/detail.html

[johnnie]

1. Hehehe

That is funny.

[Deja Q]

2. How long before some "colorful comparisons" are made?

:rofl:

[Hugin]

3. "he certainly understands the severity of it now..."

That the director has used the boy's skin as a lampshade.

The rest of the story.

[XemaSab]

4. Here's a picture!

[Deja Q]

5. With or without the chewed gum?

:spray:

Whoops, got a bodily fluid all over that painting...

[XemaSab]

6. Hard to say, hard to say...

Abstract art sucks.

[wallwriter]

15. Abstract Art is great. You lack imagination.

[Catch22Dem]

32. I have plenty of imagination AND I like abstract art

But I don't like this painting at all.

Please don't accuse someone of lacking imagination when they simply don't like something you like.

[wallwriter]

35. When someone gives a wholesale dismissal

of an important aspect of visual culture ("abstract art sucks"), without room for discussion, I will indeed accuse them of lack of imagination.

Lighten up, Church Lady.

[Catch22Dem]

40. Ok, but the painting does suck

ON EDIT: Fuck it, nevermind.

[Frank Cannon]

7. I think a blob of gum would be an improvement

Seriously, I think the composition is just begging for a wad of Double Bubble. I think that gum would help the painting make its obvious statement about...ennui. I think.

[XemaSab]

8. It would really depend in the shade of the gum

:shrug:

[Hugin]

10. Yeah, that picture needs a touch of pink.

[JVS]

9. Can't we just let the piece of gum be part of the art?

[LynneSin]

13. THAT'S WORTH 1.5MILLION?

Hell I could paint that

Sign me up for that art course!

[XemaSab]

14. Shit, I'd pay 1.5 million

NOT to have that shit on my wall.

:P

[purr]

18. Me too! Actually, I seen better finger paintings from

kindergartners on the walls at my sons school.

[LisaL]

22. Wow. I am pretty sure I can draw tons of painting that look

just like that. I was upset at the kid at first, but looks like he got taste.

[Neshanic]

34. Kid read "The Painted Word" by Tom Wolf.

[tigereye]

37. I like it

It's a shame when people have little or no respect for art.

[CC]

11. If he thinks he knows

severity of it now, wait until the parents get the cleaning bill.

[Roon]

20. I love your animals

:hi:

[CC]

26. Thank you, I

love them too, and they are very spoiled.

[Roon]

30. I bet!!

:-D

[Shine]

12. Pretty lame of the kid to do that, imo. A 12 yr old should know better.

:eyes:

[pointblank]

16. Agreed.

When I was 12, in the sixth grade, we took a trip to the Missouri History Museum to see the Magna Carta (traveling display) and some kids in my class got caught leaving the group and breaking into one of the donation boxes and stealing the money...I remember because one of those kids is a good friend of mine today.

They knew damn well what they were doing.

[Shine]

17. Yeah, I've got a 12 yr old boy, myself. There's NO way he'd do that.

he's been raised with good moral values. :thumbsup:

;)

[Arugula Latte]

19. I know. I thought it was going to say a six- or seven-year-old did that.

That would be bad enough ... but a 12 year old? :eyes:

[SharonRB]

24. I totally agree with you.

Whether people appreciate the specific painting is totally besides the point. It's not like he's a 3-year-old or anything. In fact, a 3-year-old should know better than that.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

21. The Detroit Institute of Arts has a $1.5M painting...

... and nobody thought to buy a $50 sheet of glass? I'm only surprised shit like this doesn't happen all the time.

[SharonRB]

25. Most artwork in museums is not covered by glass.

I was at MOMA in NYC last week and we were very surprised to see a few Van Gogh's with glass over them. It's pretty unusual.

[SofaKingLiberal]

28. Not too long ago Munch's 'Scream' was stolen from a museum

the robbers simply ripped it off the wall and ran out with it.

Bill Maher's comment on this was something like:

"Next time you spend 10 million dollars for a painting, spend an extra 5 bucks for a lock and chain"

[SharonRB]

23. What a moran!

I can't believe his parents never taught him not to do something like that.

I just saw the article in The Detroit Free Press.

[Floogeldy]

27. Who cares?

Sue, sue, sue. :)

[Redstone]

29. Like I said before: How could anyone tell? Blobs are blobs,

after all.

Redstone

[Catch22Dem]

31. TWELVE and he "didn't understand the ramifications"

Fucking PLEASE!!!

[bleedingheart]

39. I am with you...my 9 year old knows not to touch stuff

[bettyellen]

33. my aunt picked at a van gogh once, i prayed they'd haul her ass in

but the guard didn't notice.
she was bitching he had wasted paint, because it was laid on so thick. :shrug:

[DrGonzoLives]

36. "Didn't understand the ramifications"

Bullshit. Don't do stuff like that to things that aren't yours. Do parents teach this kind of stuff now?

[bleedingheart]

38. anyone ever see the cockroach on Pollock canvas in the Smithsonian?

a Docent pointed it out to me...

apparently Jackson Pollock just left the cockroach on his canvas and as the paint dried it was glued to the canvas.