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Polish 'artist' charged with damaging Rothko mural at Tate Modern

PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle 10.10.2012 09:05
A Pole living in England is to hear charges Wednesday of damaging a Mark Rothko painting at the Tate Modern in London.

Photo
Photo posted on twitter of damaged Rothko

Wlodzimierz Umaniec, of 'no fixed abode' was arrested in Worthing in Sussex, on the southern coast of England, on Monday after black paint was scrawled across the mural, 'Black on Maroon' (1958) on Sunday.

Police originally presumed the man was Russian as he used the Russian version of his name when he wrote on the bottom right hand corner of the painting, potentially worth millions of pounds: “"Vladimir Umanets, a potential piece of yellowism".

The 26 year-old Umaniec has described himself as a painter and the inventor of an art movement he calls 'yellowism'.

The Pole, who the Guardian reports used black ink on the mural "to increase its value" will be charged with causing an estimated 5,000 pounds worth of damage at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court, Wednesday.

'Black on Maroon' is a painting which “comes from one of three series of canvases painted by Rothko in 1958-9 in response to a commission for murals for the small dining room of the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York,” the Tate Modern catalogue says.

In May, Rothko's 'Orange, Red, Yellow' sold for 86.9 million USD, a new auction record for the artist, at Christie's in New York. (pg)

souce: Reuters

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