A loutish act or an acid and categorical artistic critic? I am talking about the 12-years-old boy who last week stuck a chewing gum on the surface of the canvas entitled The bay (1963) by Helen Frankenthaler, exhibited in the Detroit Institute of Arts. The work, one of the most important paintings by the artist, has been removed from the exhibition room and placed at the conservation lab. The Museum officials said that they expect that the painting could be restored in a few months.

The witty guy has been suspended by his Academy, and his parents have declared that he will be punished, but the Museum has no intention of suing him. Perhaps they have interpreted the act as the first sample of action critic of the 21 st century.

ABOUT HELEN FRANKENTHALER

Helen Frankenthaler (born in 1928) is one of the most important painters of the second generation of American abstract expressionist artists. In her works he tried the arduous task of combining Jackson Pollock's drip and Mark Rothko's colour spots, in a new technique called staining , consisting in applying layers of paint which saturate the canvas surface. Her work has an important influence in artists such as Kenneth Noland or Morris Louis.