Marking Up Rothko

Today at London's Tate gallery a tourist vandalized Black on Maroon 1958 by abstract artist Mark Rothko. A witness reported via twitter: “This guy calmly walked up, took out a marker pen and tagged it. Surreal.” The museum reported that the defacer used a brush and black paint to mark up the priceless painting, which has been commissioned for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York. Online response to the incident has been overwhelming critical of 'vladmir's' effort, but mine is that it's just a fucking painting. Rothko hated the idea of his paintings as a backdrop for the power elite and said to a newspaper publisher at the time, “I hope to paint something that will ruin the appetite of every son of a bitch who ever eats in that room .If the restaurant would refuse to put up my murals, that would be the ultimate compliment. But they won’t. People can stand anything these days." Rothko returned his commission and later donated the paintings to the Tate in 1970. Good to see that vandals are still alive in the UK. Fuck the rich.