Posted on 02/28/2006 12:55:40 PM PST by 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.
Helen Frankenthaler's 1963 abstract painting "The < Gum > Bay."
Could you do something about that floppy eared twit son of yours? Boy is he annoying.
Weak and whiny. He's plenty old to know proper behavior.
This kid is certainly old enough to know better. After considering the offense, and examining the painting, IMO an appropriate punishment would be to make him paint a replacement work.
"The Placing Of The Gum"In this work of performance art from February 2006, the young creator challenges our perceptions with an act of simultaneous transgression and creativity. The contrast, both tactile and chromatic, with the existing work reflects the contrast between the adult and child members of society, and also symbolizes mute protest against elitist social norms. This simultaneous fusion and dissonance raises many interesting questions about the boudaries between painting and sculpture....
It would probably be an improvement. Heck, he might even discover a hidden talent....put any old splotches of paint on a canvas, then sell it for a fortune.
I'm surprised the museum didn't have the kids behind a roped area so they couldn't touch anything just look. Kids are so tactile you would have thought the museum would have thought of that first thing. Especially when there is always one in the crowd doing something stupid!
HOpe his mama whupped his a$$!
Doubtful though.
Ever been to the Hirshorn gallery in DC?
Talk about strange and "fugly" artwork.
One "art" display they had when I visited consisted of a big, dark room and the ONLY thing in the room was a large projection television which kept looping a video of an elephant sitting down, then lying on its side, then rolling over and getting back up.
Who put the Frankenthaler on the 10 cent piece of gum?
Heh. I was not the offender. Must have been some distant cousin.
Shouldn't they sue the gum manufacturers since their product was used to commit a crime?
He's 12 and if he isn't retarded he knew damn well what he was doing. He just didn't realize that he might get caught.
Sue gum dealers since it was undoubtedly a straw man sale.
Excellent!
I would have had to mow 150,000 lawns at $10 each and pay back the museum for the painting.
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