Pathetic little rick gets two years for efacing Rothko pinting

Wlodzimierz Umaniec, also known as Vladimir Umanets who vandalised one of Tate's  collection of Rothko paintings   has been jailed for two years.

According to the  Guardian Umanets, a 26-year-old Polish national who lives in Worthing, West Sussex, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to criminal damage in excess of £5,000. In this case it was well in excess, with estimates suggesting it will cost more than £200,000 and 20 months to restore.

Judge Roger Chapple, at Inner London crown court, said it was "abundantly clear" that Umaniec was "plainly an intelligent man" who regarded Rothko as a "great painter".

The incident happened at around 3.25pm on 7 October this year, when Umaniec approached one of Rothko's Seagram murals, Black on Maroon, took out a brush and some black paint and wrote his name along with 'A Potential Piece of Yellowism' in the corner of the work.

He later claimed it was an artistic act, comparing himself to Marcel Duchamp, whose appropriation of a urinal in 1917 led to him being regarded as the father of conceptual art. Umaniec had told the BBC: "Art allows us to take what someone's done and put a new message on it."


Rothko's Seagram murals, originally planned for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York, were a gift to the Tate by the artist in 1969 and are regarded as some of Tate Modern's most important works.
The court heard that Umaniec went to the gallery intending to put his "signature" on a picture, but decided to damage the Rothko painting only at the time he saw it on display.


The restoration will be long and difficult, not least because Rothko often used unusual materials, including eggs and glue, to create his works.


Two years is a long time but Umanets is a sad littleprick who isn't fit to lick the boots of an artist like Rothko.  Perhas he can treat his prison time as a for mof closed erformance art. Not sure if there is any yellow in his prison gear.

Rothko Vandal Vladimir Umamets: Deluded Wanker

 The Tate Modern is the proud owner of one of the largest collections of Rothkos in any single art gallery. This is thanks to the artist's donation of a series of murals that were originally intended to be displayed in a restaurant in the Seagram Building in New York

 Yesterday  astonished witnesses watched saw ta man in his late 20s, calmly walk up to Black On Maroon (1958) and scrawl a graffiti message in black marker pen or paint yesterday afternoon.

The graffiti reads: “Vladimir Umanets, A Potential Piece of Yellowism.”

Vladimir Umamets, who is originally from Russia, admitted today that he had written on the painting, but insisted his aim was not to destroy or deface it.

 "Some people think I'm crazy or a vandal, but my intention was not to destroy or decrease the value, or to go crazy. I am not a vandal," he said.

Umamets the founder of something called "Yellowism "I don't need to be famous, I don't want money, I don't want fame, I'm not seeking seeking attention....I believe that from everything bad there's always a good outcome so I'm prepared for that but obviously I don't want to spend a few months, even a few weeks, in jail. But I do strongly believe in what I am doing, I have dedicated my life to this."  He also said he feels he may have increased the value.

 

The Tate’s conservationists are currently assessing the damage.Julia Nagle, a painting conservator, suggested the painting was not ruined forever. "I have every faith it will be cleaned off. They're delicate surfaces and it's important not to rub them but there's a massive body of research into Rothko and his techniques and a great conservation department at the Tate.  "I've no doubt they will manage to take it off."

Umanets said yellowism was "an element of contemporary visual culture" and not an artistic movement. It's not art, it's not reality, it's just Yellowism," he said. "It can't be presented in a gallery of art, it can be presented only in a Yellowistic chambers.The main difference between Yellowism and art is that in art you have got freedom of interpretation, in Yellowism you don't have freedom of interpretation, everything is about Yellowism, that's it. I am a Yellowist. I believe what I am doing and I want people to start talking about this. It was like a platform. Maybe I would like to point people's attention on what it's all about, what is Yellowism, what is art? It's good people are shocked about what happened. No-one is realising what actually happened, everyone is just posting that the piece has been damaged or destroyed or defaced. But I believe that after a few years they will start looking for it from the right angle. So that's why I did it."

Yellowism?What gives him the right to deface a great piece of art? What he did was not an artistic statement it was an act of vandalism that could potentially have ruuied a magnificent piece of art.

Umamets comes over as an utter arsehole. I doubt that his artistic defence will cut any ice when he faces his day in court. erhaps he should pay for the restoration, the wanker.