Drunk Woman Attacks $30 Million Painting By Punching It and Urinating on It
- Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:04am by
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Carmen Tisch
Investigators are trying to determine why a woman caused $10,000 worth of damage to a large expressionist painting at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver by punching, scratching, removing her pants, and sliding up and down the artwork while urinating.
Carmen Tisch, from Denver, was apparently intoxicated when she declared war on the painting and now faces charges of criminal mischief, said district attorney spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough.
Tisch has been held on $20,000 bond since Dec. 29 incident, said the spokeswoman for the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
“You have to wonder where her friends were,” said Ms Kimbrough.
The police report said Tisch beat the painting repeatedly with her fist and that the scratches and other damage were visible. However, what’s arguably worse for the long-term value of the painting is the fact that she — um — attacked it with her glutei maximi.
“It doesn’t appear she urinated on the painting or that the urine damaged it, so she’s not being charged with that,” Denver District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough said Wednesday.
“It does damage the piece, though, even people just knowing that happened,” said Ivar Zeile, owner of Denver’s Plus Gallery, in a recent FOX report.
The painting.
The painting, referred to as 1957-J-No. 2, is valued at more than $30 million. The large montage of black, white and burnt orange swaths with a sliver of yellow is from Still’s middle period.
Denver acquired the collection in stiff competition by promising to build a facility for the paintings and sculptures. Still, who died in 1980, specified in his will that his estate had to go to an American city willing to establish a permanent museum for his work. He was one of the first abstract expressionist artists following World War II.
The museum has raised $32 million in private donations for its building, endowment and operations, Petersen said. The city of Denver also contributed about $99 million from an auction of four Still works.
Museum officials said they believe security is adequate for the facility and that they regularly evaluate security to protect the collection and visitors. Museum spokeswoman Regan Petersen said in a statement that its guards “acted swiftly and appropriately; the police were summoned immediately and the offender was taken into custody.”
Visitors touring the gallery Thursday said they were horrified by the attack. Rachel Gelbman and Christine Shaw, of Denver, said they had seen the painting at the Denver Art Museum and noticed it was missing, replaced by a similar painting from the 1956-1958 era.
“What would possess someone to do that?” Gelbman said as security guards roamed the building.
Tisch will be formally advised of the charges today, Kimbrough said.
“It comes across as pretty inconceivable that somebody would do that in the context of a museum,” said Ivar Zeile, owner of Plus Gallery.
At the museum, on the wall near where Still’s painting once stood, Still summed up his philosophy of art: “I never wanted color to be color, texture to be texture, images to become images. I wanted them all to fuse into a living spirit.”
Based on multiple eyewitness accounts from that December evening, Still‘s art wasn’t the only thing fused with spirits.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Comments (158)
Choctaw25
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:12amDemocrat girls gone wild. All her friends were at a OWS rally and left her alone without Adult supervision.
Report Post »Or, she was just reeling from the fact that her Masters in Art Appreciation couldn’t get her a real paying job.
Secret Squirrel
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:13am.
Report Post »“I don’t know anything about art, but I know it when I piss on it.”
Jinglebob
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:26amShe should not have done it of course but I can understand it. The “art” must have drove her crazy.
I do have many paintings that look just like the one at the gallery except mine are on my frig door.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 10:24amIt looks like she was a former Tower Records employee and is still upset about the company’s demise.
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 10:43am“Friends?” Are you telling me a ‘woman’ like this has ‘friends?’ HA! It is to laugh!
I don‘t care what the painting was ’of’, this kind of behavior “IS” not befitting anyone. And shouldn’t be tolerated, at all.
Report Post »Old Truckers
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 1:03pmAhh, another “classy” gal with tattoos. Yuk
The quickest way to destroy your femininity is to get tattoos.
Of course over-drinking and urinating on a painting does not help her image either.
As for the painting; I would not want it in my house, even before it was urinated on.
Report Post »yougottabekidding
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 1:14pmCHOCTAW25
So your saying there is adult supervision to OSW?
Report Post »Khthulhu
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 1:23pmThe article said that the artwork wasn’t damaged but it looks all smudged and runny. Oh wait. That IS the artwork.
I agree. it seems she is jealous of the artwork since it earns more $ than she does with her doctorate degree in Advanced Afghani Underwater Basket Weaving. No wonder she’s pi$$ed!
Report Post »GdHUs
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 2:15pmI was really angry at this chick when I read the headline and saw her sorry looking face; until I saw the painting. Then I was like, y’know if I had a few drinks in me and viewed that work of ,“art”, I might have been led to do the same thing.
Report Post »carbonyes
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 2:50pmSECRET SQUIRL and JINGLEBOB: Hilarious!
Report Post »Twobyfour
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 3:15pmWhat’s the name of painting? Dog’s vomit? I know that it’s tagged by some code… I guess that the painter wanted you to use your imagination. And that is what my imagination tells me.
But, I would not put it beyond the scope of possibilities that this is an insurance scam. The girl may be in kahoots with the gallery that wants to get a rid of a worthless painting while cashing on it’s “alleged” price.
And no, I am not a dilettante as art goes. I am a painter myself (a musician too). A lot of people depict barfs these days and for an unknown reason call it “art”.
Report Post »JayCee
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 4:14pmThe painting looks like she really did a number on it.
A couple of numbers, both 1 and 2.
Report Post »last frontier
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 4:28pmJaneane Garofalo will do anything to get on the news.
Report Post »Macman1138
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 9:51amTrue enough but if I had painted something like that my wife would have told me that I would be lucky to get $15 for it at the flea market.
Report Post »Wolf
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 2:08pmWhat kind of fools would call that POS painted paper ‘art’ and claim it’s worth $30million? She has every right to exercise her First and Fourth Amendment rights, and her weak bladder’s rights, on that crappy kindergarten scrap.
Report Post »theaveng
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 9:30pmWhy on earth are these paintings being preserved?
Yet another waste of taxpayer dollars. I wouldn’t pay 30 dollars for it, much less 30 million
.
Report Post »tmplarnite
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 6:00pmWow…Ain’t she a piece of work?! Just another dismissive O’vomit Progressive elitist!
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:11amTHAT is worth $30,000,000 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????
Report Post »InversionTheory
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:32amClearly….I am in the wrong business. It doesn’t strike me as bad enough to be urinated upon, but I wouldn’t pay more than $30 for it.
Report Post »colt1860
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 11:47amShe did the artist a huge favor by giving him some long awaited real constructive criticism.
Communist Goals (1963)
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
Report Post »HumbleCitizen
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 12:22pm@colt1860
Report Post »What a good idea!
Here’s the link to the communist goals Colt1860 is referring to.
http://www.rense.com/general32/americ.htm
Detroit paperboy
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 12:31pmshe was occupying it…. With her ass !!!!
Report Post »Jim in Houston
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 1:36pmIt may be valued at $30MM, but I wouldn’t pay $0.30 for it. That said, I wouldn’t try to destroy it either.
Report Post »ares338
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:08amIt’s urine not mine!
Report Post »Secret Squirrel
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:16am.
Report Post »So, other than that, did you like it?
kentuckypatriot
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:08amIt’s obvious to me that she occupied the museum. She also looks like an old lady, I bet she’s not even 30 yet. What a shame.
Report Post »littlefish
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:11amyup . . . another Occupier successful operation
Report Post »Secret Squirrel
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:15am.
Report Post »So if the artist uses dung, it’s art.
If the viewer uses dung, it’s vandalism.
texasfireguy
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 10:47amIt’s all in the presentation squirell.
Report Post »Macman1138
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 9:54amI never saw anyone with a bunch of tattoos that had a lick of sense anyway.
Report Post »gypsyman
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:06amI am obviously hanging around the wrong crowd. I did one simular to this, and was only offered 5 million. I think I’ll go practice on some toilet paper in the bathroom, maybe I’ll get a better offer.
Report Post »empatreides
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 11:17amJust remember to eat lots of beans before you practice making this
Report Post »Ah, uh is it a bird? We didn’t cover slopping paint in my school.
SREGN
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:00amArt is between the thighs of the beholder.
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:41amIndeed.
Report Post »Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:00amHow do you urinate on a $30 million dollar piece of “Art”, punch it and conclude damage at only $10,000 ? What kind of art gets a quote like that, like it’s a used car with a scratch on it?
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:09am.
Report Post »One would figure the “pee” would increase the value…………….
King Troy
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:59amim shocked a white meth chick.
Report Post »NOBAMA201258
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:57amKINGTROY That “painting” looks like the work of a meth chick!
Report Post »Dr. Joel Fleischman
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 1:57pmI think Al Sharpton posts here, as King Troy.
Report Post »PhillyPauly
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:57amIf she calls it performance art, they can’t press charges and those of us who actually pay taxes will pay her
Report Post »ZAP
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:51amWhat no video of the crime?Boooooooooooooooo
Report Post »Tri-ox
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:48amObviously, this lovely young lady is a Ron-Paul-obama supporter.
Report Post »GeorgieJo
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:09amNo—-Obummer made her do it so more $ can go to the “arts”
Report Post »LMAO
Baddoggy
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:11amWhy? You thin k Ron Paul is crazy don’t you? You would have thought the Foubding Fathers crazy too I suppose. What an idiotic statement.
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:16amFounding…sorry I am legally blind and mistype sometimes.
Report Post »JLGunner
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:27amBad, I think it’s idiotic to spell founding – foubding
Report Post »booger71
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 10:54amBaddoggy
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:11am
Why? You thin k Ron Paul is crazy don’t you? You would have thought the Foubding Fathers crazy too I suppose. What an idiotic statemen
Report Post »——————————————————-
Sorry to burst your bubble but Ron was not one of the Founders, does not even act like one (earmarks?)
Crazyotto
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:42amit looks as if all it was missing was a little urine….
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:40amDid you know that a piece of crap like that once hung in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for six months before somebody realized that it was upside down? What does that tell you?
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:48amHow could they tell????
Report Post »deeberj
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 3:51pmMy dad and mom years ago were at a museum when she was in art class in college. Everyone was looking at a modern art painting, using all their artsy-fartsy language to describe the work. My dad whispered to my mom “I think it’s upside down.” Just then two workmen came into the room and turned it right-side up. All the people who thought they knew all about that work of art just sorta left with no comment.
Report Post »Rational Man
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:31amFor Pete’s sake!! 30 million for THAT!!
Report Post »It looks like the back of a house painter’s pickup truck.
TXPilot
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:37amIts obvious, she was simply overcome by “art”……this thing is are right?…..no really, is it?
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:37amHAHAHA I thought the same thing. Who has 30 MILLION to waste on THAT?
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:31amI think I saw that painting “pattern” in a loaded diaper once…..
Report Post »Msgt Ret
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:40amThats funny!
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:30amHmmm, have you ever considered that you might have a problem with alcohol lady? I mean, if you did this kind of stuff when you drank Pepsi, wouldn’t you quit drinking Pepsi?
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:32amShe saw a pile of crap and figured she would add to the pile.
I commend her on being able to discern stinking garbage trying to masquerade as art!
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:36amBut that tattoo on her throat is great art?
Report Post »sawbuck
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:28am“What would possess someone to do that?” Gelbman said as security guards roamed the building
_______
I know…..do you…?
More to come…..This is just the beginning …!
Report Post »barber2
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:28amTish was probably “inspired” by the Occupy Denver crowd she passed on her way to the museum.
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:25amI can see how she mistook this amateurish painting for toilet paper.
All modern art is a physical manifestation of anti-Western values. It is all garbage and should be treated as such.
Those who patronize artists that create this faux art are fools and are quietly laughed at by individuals who understand the scam being perpetrated.
If you have “modern art” hanging on your walls, then you have been clowned on.
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:37amIt’s the “Emperor’s New Clothes” syndrome. Fools pretend to like that kind of pseudo-art trash because they think that makes them sophisticated and worldly. Meanwhile, real artists who produce real art that real people buy are laughing at them. These are the same clowns who praise stupid, boring movies that flop at the box office because real people won’t pay to watch them.
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:48am@ JESPASINTHRU
It is the reason why we have the squat, ugly, and offensive Vietnam War Memorial instead of soaring, grand, and beautiful monument memorializing the heroic deeds of heroic soldiers.
Instead we are forced to look at a wall of the dead.
I hate modern art.
Report Post »cdavis411
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:22amI find it hard to believe that you would be able to notice damage on that hunk of junk they are saying is worth $30 million
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:37amI think it may be valued at 30 million for insurance purposes. It is worth $0.00.
It reality, in the real world, were we live, it is garbage. One may be able to gesso over the original and use the reclaimed canvas for a real painting.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:37amAs a painter,I am no fan of abstract art..Goal 22 of the 45 goals towards communisim is……22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:39amIndeed, it would look better in the garbage dumpster out back.
Who would hang this offensive image on a wall where people can see it.
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:51amMike, I’ve actually done that before. The original was a sloppy excuse for a sunset that I bought from Goodwill for ten bucks. I gessoed over it and painted a lost city underwater, complete with sharks, octopi and tropical fish. Sold it for 300 bucks at the art show. So you see, even crappy fake art has its uses.
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:41am@ JESPASINTHRU
Awesome.
Museums of Modern Art all over the country have canvases hanging on their walls that need to be reused. They should donate them to Goodwill so working artists such as yourself can pick them up cheap and use them to create real art.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:18am.
“You have to wonder where her friends were,” said Ms Kimbrough.
Kinda hard to tell the freaks from the Art Huh?…..They were the ones pointing and laughing their asses off while she was peeing on your painting Duh!!!!!
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:32amHa ha ha ha ha!!!!! Soooooooo true!!
Report Post »Cascadia
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:37amDuly noted are the beautiful tats on her neck, which allow her to apply for “ disability” payments from the govmt, as she is “unemployable” due to discrimination. FYI. Tats on face&/ or neck are considered relevant reason to apply for govt. disability pymt! Occupy Tat Shop. OMG
Report Post »SHIPMONEY100TRILLION
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:13amThats ok she is one of the 99% and that is normal for her.
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:21amAnd, if she has friends, they are probably occupying somewhere and she merely needed to use the bathroom and hallucinated.
Report Post »Cascadia
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:21amTherein lies the rub
Report Post »SHIPMONEY100TRILLION
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:12amProbably has Donkey trama.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:10am.
The painting, referred to as 1957-J-No. 2, is valued at more than $30 million. The large montage of black, white and burnt orange swaths with a sliver of yellow is from Still’s middle period.
I’m gonna be “RICH” cause my grandson he’s 3 drew something just like that, it’s hanging on my fridge….
1% here I come…………..
Report Post »rambosharley
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 11:06amAll through the 80‘s and 90’s I had similar painting on my fridge too…..I’ll be joining you in the 1%….YEA!
Report Post »speedyjerry
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:10amIf someone told me our tax-payer money paid 30 million bucks for that piece of crap I would have removed my pants, and urinated on it too.
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:30amHuman excrement would improve the work.
Who looks at this as says, “Now this is art. I must possess this, this, 1957-J-No.2.”
Report Post »grannyrecipe
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 8:34amThat’s the meaning of the yellow streak, it’s saying “Pee on me, I’m ugly”
Report Post »