Boy, 12, sticks gum on $1.5M painting

[Hivetyrant]

Oh damn......

DETROIT - A 12-year-old visitor to the Detroit Institute of Arts stuck a wad of gum to a $1.5 million painting, leaving a stain the size of a quarter, officials say. The boy was part of a school group from Holly that visited the museum on Friday, officials say. They say he took a piece of Wrigley's Extra Polar Ice gum out of his mouth and stuck it on Helen Frankenthaler's "The Bay," an abstract painting from 1963. The museum acquired the work in 1965 and says it is worth about $1.5 million. The gum stuck to the painting's lower left corner and did not adhere to the fiber of the canvas, officials told the Detroit Free Press. But it left a chemical residue about the size of a quarter, said Becky Hart, assistant curator of contemporary art. The museum's conservation department is researching the chemicals in the gum to decide which solvent to use to clean it. The museum hopes to make the repair in two weeks and will keep "The Bay" on display in the meantime, she said. "Our expectation is that the painting is going to be fine," Hart said. Holly Academy director Julie Kildee said the boy had been suspended from the charter school and says 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.

[Link]

Although I don't give a rat's ass about paintings, especially not abstract ones which don't say anything at all, I think the museum should at least make his parents pay a hefty fine! That's how the society works: you do something out of line, and you get sanctioned for it.

[VulcanRider]

The Bay looks like a piece of bubblegum already. I disagree with "only 12 and doesn't understand the ramifications." That's old enough to know that artwork on display in a museum is not a place to put your trash, whether you like it or not. Make the parents reimburse the museum for the cost of restoration. And it wouldn't hurt to put his butt to work sweeping floors, cleaning bathrooms, & picking up trash for a few weeks.

[Cloudbringer]

Oh please! At twelve years old he should very well understand that sticking ANYTHING to a work of art (whatever his opinions on it's value as art) is wrong! Sheesh! Is this what kids are being raised to do these days? Trash anything that isn't their own? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Larry_OHF]

I agree with above statements that he knew enough to not mess up other people's property. You can't just stick gum wherever the hell you want. I'd expect my two year old to have made that mistake but not a kid that one year from being a teenager. He showed obvious disreguard for other people's property. (Hey...O.P.P...remember that song?)

I hope his parents intoduced a hefty aversive condition on his rear...because being suspended from school is called "vacation" where I'm from.

[Felix The Assassin]

Break it down:
1. Child is in an Acadamy = Too good for public education!
2. Has no understanding of disciplne.
3. Has never been told no.
4. Money can fix anything!

Hmm, just like 98% of all current recruits on Ft Knox today (minus the acadamy upbringing). Just another product of this thing we call society!

Vulcan said: And it wouldn't hurt to put his butt to work sweeping floors, cleaning bathrooms, & picking up trash for a few weeks.

HA,ha,ha,ha,ha. Yea'll right. You want who to do what? Go ahead, make me! Oh, by the way, 'my' friends here, Gelber, Sands, and Taylor want to speak with you about child labor!

[Balintherlas]

Truly a dick maneuver. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[VulcanRider]

Originally posted by Felix The Assassin: HA,ha,ha,ha,ha. Yea'll right. You want who to do what? Go ahead, make me! Oh, by the way, 'my' friends here, Gelber, Sands, and Taylor want to speak with you about child labor!

What, you don't think doing community service at the museum for a few months wouldn't be a good idea? I'll bet the parents would agree to this as an alternative to getting hit with restoration costs.

[AzRaeL StoRmBlaDe]

wow I mean how is a kid that dumb at 12? to stick gum on artwork at a museum, come on. send him to juvenile hall till he's 18 that will sure teach him.

[armageddon272]

It'd be ironic if to fix it, it would cost 1.5001 million.