[gatagato]

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Police are using security and cellphone video to locate a man who vandalized Pablo Picasso’s famous painting, “Woman in a Red Armchair,” at a museum in Houston.

A fellow museum patron’s cellphone camera caught the moment when a man at Houston’s Menil Collection, which hosts nine Picassos, vandalized the 1929 painting. The painting was doused with gold spray paint in the image of a bull and the word “conquista,” according to police, who said the vandal then fled.

“I’m shocked that he just did it, and unabashedly just ran up and did it,” teacher Isaias Torres said .

Museum officials say the crime occurred last week.

The museum staff houses a conservation lab on site and workers are racing to clean the painting. Museum spokesman Vance Muse told the Houston Chronicle that “repair work began immediately” and that the painting “has an excellent prognosis.”

Art collector Matthew Hewitt said, “It’s excellent that it can be repaired for historic reasons, it’s excellent that it can be repaired, for the respect of Houston, for the defamation of any kind of historical art, and the name of Picasso.”

The museum was unable to estimate the painting’s worth, but similar Picassos have sold for tens of millions of dollars. No arrests have been made.

Anyone who witnessed the attack or has information is asked to call (713) 308-0900.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headline...ouston-museum/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1098441
http://www.click2houston.com/news/Ho...6/-/index.html

[Pyramid_Head]

Thats fucked up!

[kellyhound]

stupid ABC headline : Famous Picasso destroyed.

“It’s excellent that it can be repaired for historic reasons, it’s excellent that it can be repaired, for the respect of Houston

also weird that he walks towards the painting to record the vandalizing part instead of following the perp to record his face or to tackle him etc.

[banana dick]

I would have walked up and busted him in the head. what a piece of shit.

[Emperor Wang]

Tottal Asshole, with a capital Asshole

[dcaccount22]

Why is it out where someone can touch it that easily? Ugly painting, I must be uncultured because I dont see a 10 million dollar piece of work

[gatagato]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

also weird that he walks towards the painting to record the vandalizing part instead of following the perp to record his face or to tackle him etc.

Once the man walks away, the person taking the video walks up to the painting, recording the damage. This, plus the fact that the witness happened to film the vandal at the moment he damaged the painting, has some speculating whether the two were working together.

“People have wondered if this YouTube (video) was shot by a bystander who just happened to be there at that moment or if it’s more akin to perpetrators, plural,” Muse said. “I just don’t know. But I hope we find out.”

Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said investigators are reviewing both surveillance video from the museum and the video posted on YouTube. When asked if police think the vandal and witness were working together, she said, “We’re taking all the information and we’re looking at all aspects of the incident.”

She would not say whether police have spoken to the witness who shot the video.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...RoV_story.html

Originally Posted by dcaccount22 ↗

Why is it out where someone can touch it that easily? Ugly painting, I must be uncultured because I dont see a 10 million dollar piece of work

Placing paintings behind protective glass or keeping visitors farther from the works of art drastically reduces the pleasure of admiring them. Always better to avoid such countermeasures, however it's NOT a brilliant idea to leave the painting alone, exposed to the risk of being vandalized so easily.
And i must be uncultured as well because some gory car crashes aftermaths look much more artistic to my untrained eyes: i never understood Cubism.

[Sharon]

I'd spray the vandal in gold paint

Yes, art is very subjective value and taste-wise.

[DiamondSmiles]

I'm not a Picasso fan, but, out of respect for all artists regardless of personal taste, someone should have jumped on him.

I can't think of the right word for him.

I'm a Van Gogh fan myself.

[LadyPox]

Ignorant puke!