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.

[Mr. Mojo]

I think we have a critic.

Or maybe a modern artist.

[bwteim]

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

That'll teach him...

[steve86]

I sure understood at the age of 12 not to do such things.

It really depends on the painting.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

THAT is worth 1.5 megabucks?

Jeez, I was in the wrong line of work as a businessman!

Hang on, I'm getting myself some canvases, some paint, and a fifth of Jack Daniels, and I'm becoming a frickin' ARTISTE!

[spetznaz]

Reminds me of that guy in England who tripped over his shoelaces and fell on 3 rare Chinese vases from the Qing dynasty. Smashed them into wee pieces too. Funny thing is that the only 'punishment' he was given was a request for him to not visit the museum in the 'near future.' (Although I doubt he'd be able to pay for 3 Qing dynasty vases anyways).

I'd say that one of Murphy's by-laws is to never have rare/expensive items where they can be broken/smashed/stolen /stained/soiled/smeared/scratched/scoured .....etc etc etc.

[verity]

$1.5 Million? The painting looks like a paint spill at Home Depot.

[Bon mots]

I think maybe he prefers impressionism.

[6SJ7]

$1.5 million for that!? I've got an old painting drop cloth that looks like this painting. Perhaps I should contact the museum.

[Fawn]

Another reason why I never wanted kids.

[just me]

Modern Art... I don't even like that section at the D.I.A.

The kid was still wrong... At 12 he should have known better.

[commish]

MY question is this - Who the hell is the brain dead moron who would pay $1.5 Mil for that unadulterated P.O.S. canvas with paint splashed on it by a two year old.

If that is a painting, I am the Queen of England.

[Antoninus]

Hmmm. Where was the discipline before this? When I was 12 I actually knew that something like that was worse than wrong.

Having seen the "art" in question, I'm not so sure. Perhaps the kid was just making an artistic statement of his own?

[skimask]

When I was in Catholic School, chewing gum was forbidden. If you got caught chewing gum, the nuns would make yopu put it on the tip of your nose and leave it there all day.

[Slump Tester]

Why don't they stick more gum all over it so everything matches?

[nomorelurker]

Maybe he thought he was putting the gum on a part of the wall that was going to be painted over.

[SlowBoat407]

Oh, great. Now we're going to see renewed calls for gum control laws.

[Kenton]

Why don't they sue Holly Academy and the kid's parents?

[Cagey]

I went to the same school.

[Petronski]

"Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the Frankenthaler overnight?"

[Toby06]

That's not art, that's crap!

The kid did the thing a favor. My kid brings home better stuff in tempera paint from kindergarten.