The Outcast
03-01-2006, 08:35 PM
DETROIT (AP) — Apparently, one 12-year-old visitor to the Detroit Institute of Arts doesn't think much of abstract art.
The boy stuck a wad of gum to a $1.5 million painting called "The Bay" by Helen Frankenthaler, leaving a stain the size of a quarter, officials said.
The boy, who was not identified because of his age, was part of a school group that was visiting the museum last week when officials said he took a piece of gum out of his mouth and stuck it on the 1963 painting.
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.
"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.
The boy stuck a wad of gum to a $1.5 million painting called "The Bay" by Helen Frankenthaler, leaving a stain the size of a quarter, officials said.
The boy, who was not identified because of his age, was part of a school group that was visiting the museum last week when officials said he took a piece of gum out of his mouth and stuck it on the 1963 painting.
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.
"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.