12 Year Old Boy Sticks Gum on $1.5 Million Painting!

Dark Knight · #1 03-01-2006, 04:41 PM

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.

Rest at link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060301/ap_on_fe_st/gummed_up_art&printer=1

Mygirlsadie · #2 03-01-2006, 04:53 PM

OOOPS!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Knight

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.

Rest at link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060301/ap_on_fe_st/gummed_up_art&printer=1

tybee204 · #3 03-01-2006, 05:07 PM

Certainly a 12 year old is old enough to understand sticking a wad of gum on a painting in a Museum is vandelism. What a brat!

PaperDoll · #4 03-01-2006, 05:10 PM

What ever happened to putting it under a chair?

JBean · #5 03-01-2006, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaperDoll

What ever happened to putting it under a chair?

really! wtf?

Hey I would be just as mad if he stuck it on a cheap painting..it's just rude.

turbosleuthing · #6 03-01-2006, 05:21 PM

I bet his parents are hoping it's not a "you break it you buy it policy"

That in my opinion is rude and disrepectful. I hope there are some consequences for him.

PaperDoll · #7 03-01-2006, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbosleuthing

I bet his parents are hoping it's not a "you break it you buy it policy"

That in my opinion is rude and disrepectful. I hope there are some consequences for him.

eve · #8 03-01-2006, 05:28 PM

Hate to say it but being a teacher...this surprises me NOT! Next we will be hearing the parents protesting that it's no big deal, kids will be kids and besides, don't you know, it's all the chaperones'/teachers' fault anyway!!!!

Eve

bugs · #9 03-01-2006, 05:38 PM

This made me laugh for some reason.

Dark Knight · #10 03-01-2006, 05:51 PM

Oh there were consquences, it seems!

From the article:

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.

deanws · #11 03-01-2006, 06:04 PM

12 years old was PLENTY old enough to know what he did was disrespectful and wrong. I think he should have to do a couple of HUNDRED community service hours.

bostwick · #12 03-02-2006, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eve

Hate to say it but being a teacher...this surprises me NOT! Next we will be hearing the parents protesting that it's no big deal, kids will be kids and besides, don't you know, it's all the chaperones'/teachers' fault anyway!!!!

Eve

Teacher here, too. I have to agree with you. So many kids have no sense of respect or responsibility. And most of their parents are enablers, making excuses for them or blaming someone/anyone else.

lisag · #13 03-06-2006, 02:34 PM

While I dont think this little idiot intended to cause damage, he was intetionally disrespectful to property that did not belong to him. I am sure he would not appreciate a wad of gum stuck to his X-Box or other personal property...

Mygirlsadie · #14 03-06-2006, 02:39 PM

lol you crack me up

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaperDoll

docwho3 · #15 03-06-2006, 03:03 PM

I realize its serious but it did somehow remind me of this story:

Quote:

. . .Finally, "Jack the Nipper" was accused in 1921 of ferociously bobbing a 13-year-old Englewood girl's hair in the night. Young Margaret Bollman told her parents a man in a sweater ran "from her room and out the front door after clipping her hair short." A box turned up on the family's porch the next morning containing the shorn locks. . .

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/index/dsfiles.html