Boy Sticks Gum On $1.5 Million Painting At Museum

WFTV-NEWS ^ | 2-28-2006

[Cagey]

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.

[MaggieCarta]

How did they tell he put gum on it?

The wad of gum was probably still sitting there on the painting when the guards were summoned to deal with this little twerp.

Well, this certainly didn't happend on my watch. I volunteer at the DIA in Gallery Service. I enjoy telling visitors not to touch the art.

[Rembrandt_fan]

I never fight this fight, not really. Those who convince themselves that they (or their child) could create something more beautiful or significant than anything by a master like Frankenthaler, who see only 'overpriced blotches of paint', who hold a casual disdain for anything remotely abstract, who associate art with frivolity or effeminacy, are not folks likely to be convinced otherwise, although I've heard enough demands on this thread and elsewhere to somehow justify the value of art, either in terms of money or regard. I blame the public schools, at least in part. Every child should be taught that art--making it or experiencing it--gives life greater depth and richness, and sometimes opens the door to a new view of the world. It is a poor man who can walk away unaffected from paintings by artists like, say, Kandinsky or Modigliani. Or Frankenthaler.

[verity]

[Crawdad]

It covered up one of the numbers that hadn't been painted.

[Always Right]

I think it's a bum rap. Looks like the canvas was stained before the kid got there:

The painting looked like a gob of gum. To me the painting is saying stick your gum here.

[linda_22003]

It's not something I'd pay $1.5 million for, either, but your condemnation is a little strong. Different people like different styles of art - and some apparently appreciate none.

[IamConservative]

Are they sure it wasn't a big booger? Those can leave a mark as well. :)

[OKSooner]

Looks kinda Freudian to me.

[Cagey]

It's not something I'd pay $1.5 million for, either,

You make an excellent point. If everyone liked this piece, it would be worth $150 million and not a measly $1.5 million.

[linda_22003]

Well, my husband and I have always had a rule, that we can't have any individual item in the house that costs more than the house itself. We are at the point in our lives where we are able to spend money on original art that we like, but so far we're just in four or five figures - not seven! :)

[hunter112]

OK, then you pay $1.5 million for the thing, that much money would buy me a nice wine cellar. There's something I like that not everybody can fully appreciate, either.

[Dante3]

Some children are just nasty.

[FixitGuy]

Not a heck of a lot in the picture.

makes the stain stick out like a ..well, a gum stain!

Now THAT'S art!

[steve-b]

In order for your paintings to be worth anything, you have to die.

How about if I just spend a year dead for tax purposes?

[rollo tomasi]

"Let the artsy-fartsy types explain why this paint splotch is worth a full $1.5 mil!"

Subjective Theory of Value

One thinks it is worth $1.5 million, creates the illusion, and sells it at that price. Then some dude buys it for $1.5 million, ain't capitalism grand.

[Rembrandt_fan]

You wrote, "OK, then you pay $1.5 million for the thing, that much money would buy me a nice wine cellar."

Wine appreciation is as good a comparison to art appreciation as one is likely to find, I suppose. Just as someone (hopefully a non-alcoholic) develops a taste for fine wine, I would argue that anyone can learn to appreciate the works of abstractionists like Kandinsky or Frankenthaler with only a short period of study. 'Appreciate' in this sense doesn't mean they would necessarily grow to 'like the flavor' of abstract art, but they would have a greater understanding of the motivations involved in the making of it, and recognize why those kinds of nonrepresentational works have such appeal to others.

[linda_22003]

Exactly. I sold a book this week for $4500 that I bought in college for $75, and another for $1000 which I had bought for $10. They are exactly the same books as they were then, but the perceived value has changed over time. Someday they will likely sell for twice what I sold for, but it's up to me when to realize the gains.

[Tunehead54]

Ok - you're in! Just curiously did you backtrack to see why the others were selected?

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[verity]

Yeah.

[nancetx]

Hmmmm the painting looks like a wad of gum. Maybe the boy was right.