Wlodzimierz Umaniec, 26 years of age and co-founder of the yellowish art movement, has been sentenced to two years for vandalizing a Mark Rothko painting at London's Tate Modern.
Umaniec struck on October 7, writing "Vladimir Umanets '12 / A Potential Piece of Yellowism" on Rothko's 1959 “Black on Maroon.” The museum announced that the damage would take 18 months to repair.
Judge Roger Chapple told Umaniec during the trial, it was "wholly and utterly unacceptable to promote [yellowism] by damaging a work of art," and concluded "You actions on the 7 October this year were entirely deliberate, planned, and intentional."
Other yellowists at Inner London Crowd Court defended the co-founder's actions, claiming all art is equal and in the words of Ben Smith, "Everything is a potential piece of yellowish." As such, these art crusaders belief they are augmenting, rather than defacing, national treasures.
Perhaps, then, we may see more vandals standing trial in 2013.
[via BBC]
