Link: You Break It, You Buy It

Obviously, 1.5 million is a little steep for a 12 year old, but personally, I would charge the parents the cost of the repair job on Frankenthaler's painting--and if they were wise parents, they'd make the brat work the bill off.

One of the things that always disturbed me when I was working in a gallery is the lack of respect today's young people have for the space and the art inside it. Of course, I'm sure it's not true everywhere. When I was younger (oh god, I sound like my parents), we were taught that you were to be "quiet ladies and gentlemen," that we were to "walk not run," and NEVER touch the artwork. Have we come to a point in our culture at which we have to honestly explain to a 12 year old that sticking gum on a painting in a museum is wrong? Isn't that a given? What exactly is the age of accountability these days?

Some of the things in this article disturbed me greatly....

"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."

"Mischievous" is a dramatic understatement.

"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 (director of the school)."

Surely this woman is kidding. I think we all knew when we were 12 that it's wrong to stick gum to our desks, furniture, other people's hair, and yes, art. We learned that the proper place for gum was in the trash when its flavor wore out.

"At first, Hart (assistant curator of contemporary art) 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."

I really think that this is a little too abstract (pardon the pun) of an explanation for a 12 year old (I'll concede that 12 year olds aren't much into abstract thinking in terms of maturity). It might be more instructive to stick some Bubblicious on the music side of one of his cds.

"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."

Again, it seems rather strange to me that a museum would even have to explain this to someone.

"Of course, sometimes boys will be boys."

I will not even dignify that comment by the article writer, Mark Stryker, with a comment.

I don't mean to sound like a harsh disciplinarian. I'm not advocating spanking. But this does seem like a "teachable moment" for this boy.