Kid puts gum on pricey art piece

Hope his parents wore his little butt out, good.

Boy, 12, gums up pricey DIA artwork
BY MARK STRYKER

Detroit Free Press

You might think that a museum wouldn't have to tell visitors not to stick chewing gum on the art. But you would be wrong -- as the Detroit Institute of Arts just found out.

At the DIA on Friday, a mischievous 12-year-old boy visiting the museum with a school group took a piece of barely chewed Wrigley's Extra Polar Ice out of his mouth and stuck it on Helen Frankenthaler's 1963 abstract painting "The Bay," damaging one of the most important modern paintings in the museum's collection and a landmark picture in the artist's output.

Though the picture, acquired by the DIA in 1965 and worth an estimated $1.5 million, is expected to make a full recovery, the episode reinforces just how vulnerable priceless works of art remain when displayed publicly -- and what can happen when common sense takes a backseat to impulsive delinquency.

Officials at the DIA and the school in Holly where the scofflaw is a student have not released his name. However, art lovers -- and parents everywhere grateful that it wasn't their son who did the deed -- can rest assured that the perpetrator has been punished. Julie Kildee, director of the Holly Academy, a K-8 charter school, said the boy had been suspended and that his parents also have taken disciplinary action. Kildee declined to reveal the length of the suspension.

"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.

The incident happened just after 10 a.m. An alert security guard noticed the gum on the painting immediately after the students had exited the gallery. He called a curator and conservator, who came and removed the contraband -- DIA protocol demands that only a museum conservator touch a work of art. Meanwhile, the guard herded the students into the lobby and asked for an explanation. The guilty student confessed almost instantly.

Luckily, the gum, stuck to the painting's lower left-hand corner (from the viewer's perspective), had not adhered to the fiber of the canvas. But it did leave a chemical residue about the size of a quarter, said Becky Hart, assistant curator of contemporary art. She said the conservation department was researching the exact chemicals in the gum to determine which solvent should be used to clean the painting.

Once a solvent is chosen, Hart said the picture would be placed on a vacuum table that would pull the solvent through the canvas, removing the stain. She said the museum hoped to have the painting repaired in two weeks. The picture will remain on view in the meantime.

"Our expectation is that the painting is going to be fine," said Hart.

Though museum officials were upset, they didn't yell at the student or discipline him. At first, Hart tried to explain to him the museum's role in preserving cultural and visual history. "I knew that probably wouldn't make any sense to him, so I asked him what kind of music he liked," said Hart.

"He said he liked rap, so I said, 'Well, you know what rock 'n' roll is,' and he did, so I said, 'Can you imagine if somebody had messed up the beat in rock and roll so you didn't have any rhythm in rap.' And he looked at me, and he got it immediately."

Hart said no more than one or two artworks per year experience minor damage at the museum. She noted that that DIA guards and officials did everything correctly. The picture was hung at a proper height and students were told repeatedly before their visit that food, drink and gum are not allowed in the galleries.

Of course, sometimes boys will be boys.

"I'm always thankful that it was not worse," Hart said. "In the scheme of things, this is upsetting, and it will make us review our policies. But we're confident that the painting will be OK."

Contact MARK STRYKER at 313-222-6459 or stryker@freepress.com.

[rollhead]

Sounds to me like value added.

[Gentle Giant]

How would you protect a painting from projectile vomit?

[Pete C]

I wish he had made a statement and put gum on the work of an overrated painter like Matisse.

Everybody's a critic.

[John P. Cooper]

The kid is a moron and the writer of the article goes out of his way to minimize the moron's actions. "Boys will be boys"....hahahaha.

A 12 y/o is not a little child. It's some wise ass kid...who likes rap....so that is the only way he can relate to 'value'.

Why he he even in a museum? Next time take him to a crack house.

[clinthopson]

Originally Posted by Pete C

I wish he had made a statement and put gum on the work of an overrated painter like Matisse.

Wasdamatta, you don't like paper cut outs?

[Jazzzoline]

My parents had paintings done by a "father" who happened to be an artist. My mom used to clean them with Windex once in a while.

[jazzy mary]

Originally Posted by Pete C

I wish he had made a statement and put gum on the work of an overrated painter like Matisse.

Funny you should say that, Pete. My older daughter, Catherine, has to do a report on Matisse (she didn't choose him, it's the name she drew out of a hat) for her French class. So, on President's day, we went to MOMA so she could peruse the Matisses there. Well, she agrees with you 100%.

At the same time, I saw the Munch exhibit. It is FANTASTIC. No one who is able to catch it, should miss it. It runs until May 8, I believe.

[Pete C]

Poor Catherine. And the lucky kid who picked Cezanne out of the hat probably didn't appreciate it.

[jazzy mary]

Yeah, all those sublime still lifes!

[Chris D]

Hey, quit bagging on Matisse!

[claude]

Originally Posted by John P. Cooper

Why he he even in a museum? Next time take him to a crack house.

You're really taking this curmudgeon thing seriously aren't you??

[Steve Reynolds]

why the comment about the crack house?

di you really think anyone should take a 12 year old to a crack house?

Do you know that it does indeed happen? That 12 year old do sometimes get caught up in that drug?

and that it isn't something to be joking around about?

and are you implying something to do with race vis a vis the stupid rap comment?



I'm done

[MRS]

Originally Posted by John P. Cooper

It's some wise ass kid...who likes rap....so that is the only way he can relate to 'value'.

flagrantly idiotic remark

[Pete C]

There's a preacher post I can get behind 100%

[Frisco]

Well now John has a point. There's some pretty tasty art work done on the sides of some of the more prominent crack houses here in Detroit.

[jazzy mary]

The kid was out of line, and is a vandal, basically. But, crack house, rap music? Wha??

I'm surprised he could get that close to the painting. They needed some supervision on that trip!

[Surfer]

'Can you imagine if somebody had messed up the beat in rock and roll so you didn't have any rhythm in rap.'

That's the stupidest analogy I've ever heard. It doesnt even make any sense.





And Mr. Coops, that'll be me outside your window tonight with the boombox blasting It Takes A Nation Of Millions.

- Radio Rahim

[groover]

Simply parading kids through a modern art museum isn't going to give them any appreciation of it. They should spend a semester giving them the background frame of reference to appreciate it so the kids have some respect for it before they're exposed to it.

And they might want to consider covering the real valuable pieces with a non-glare plastic shield.

[Chris D]

Originally Posted by Surfer

And Mr. Coops, that'll be me outside your window tonight with the boombox blasting It Takes A Nation Of Millions.

- Radio Rahim

bring the noise!

[Surfer]

Originally Posted by groover

They should spend a semester giving them the background frame of reference to appreciate it so the kids have some respect for it before they're exposed to it.

I see, so boring them into submission is your plan? Might work . . . . . . . . .

[Pete C]

Click me.

[groover]

Originally Posted by Surfer

I see, so boring them into submission is your plan? Might work . . . . . . . . .

Either that, or take them to the zoo or a ball game instead.

Or better yet, don't have kids. How's that for curmudgeonly?

[Surfer]

Originally Posted by Pete C

Click me.

That's got nothing on The Chewing Gum Of Luis Gonzalez.



(I think only Chris D might get that reference . . . . .)

[Surfer]

Originally Posted by groover

Either that, or take them to the zoo or a ball game instead.

I didnt mean to be so flippant. My mother did Art Goes To School when I was in elementary school (it embarassed the shit outta me when she came in my class), but she did some cool exercises, like giving out fake monopoly money and asking kids which artwork would they buy and why. Focusing on the purely viceral impact of painting like color and form, or the narrative in them.

But focusing on context and frame of reference is a surefire way to disengage. Sorry, groover.

I am also a former teacher so I have an idea of what works.

[Al in NYC]

I remember that painting well. It's a beauty. It'll be a real shame if it's been permanently damaged.



The school trips and other visits I made to the Detroit Institute of Arts as a kid were some of the great formative experiences of my life. Not every kid, or even most kids, is going to appreciate the experience at that time in their lives no matter how much background is given to them. But for those kids who do get something out of it (and I really think most do eventually, if only to have been in a museum and know that such places exist) it will be a real shame if this affects future school visits. It's the only chance that a lot of those kids will get to see art.

[claude]

Originally Posted by Surfer

(it embarassed the shit outta me when she came in my class)

Did this happen spontaneously, like what happened on Grey's anatomy recently??

[Surfer]

Originally Posted by claude

Did this happen spontaneously, like what happened on Grey's anatomy recently??

I knew she was in the program (where volunteers who have art backgrounds go into schools and talk to kids about art), but she would never tell me when she was coming to my class.

All my friends would be like, "Dude is that your mom?".

Think Bart when Marge substitutes for Miss Kerbopple.

[Chris D]

I think claude was referring more to the missing "to" after the verb that follows "she."