I know a man has been charged with defacing the Rothko painting. "Wlodzimierz Umaniec, 26, a Polish national of no fixed abode, will appear at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court on Wednesday. Mr Umaniec, also known as Vladimir Umanets, is charged with one count of causing criminal damage in excess of £5,000."
All accounts talk about the value of the painting, in millions of pounds. That seems somehow beside the point, but with art today, talk of money is never far away. Umaniec says it wasn't vandalism, it was a case of yellowism.
What is yellowism?
Umanets has compared himself to Marcel Duchamp. He has said:
"Art allows us to take what someone's done and put a new message on it."
Duchamp once doodled on a postcard depicting the Mona Lisa. And there are other examples of artists changing or adapting copies of great works of art. See Mary Beth Edelson in an earlier blog and her adaptation of The Last Supper.
The difference here is that it is a real piece of art that has been changed. For me, this seems a kind of arrogance, something of a publicity stunt; and a real act of vandalism. It spoils a work of art that people have come to see – that belongs to them, not the yellowist. His actions may make it more difficult for people to get close to art in the future. That can't be a good thing.
