Monday, April 04, 2011

'I Am From the American CIA and I Have a Radio in My Head'

Why is it always the ones with radios in their heads who can't appreciate art?
The Paul Gauguin masterpiece that was attacked Friday by a woman at the National Gallery of Art “sustained no damage,” the museum said Monday, after conservators examined the canvas.

The painting, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and valued at $80 million, is expected to be back on view at 10 a.m. Tuesday, the gallery announced.

The work, “Two Tahitian Woman,” is part of the exhibit “Gauguin: Maker of Myth,” which opened in late February.

A museum visitor, identified in documents filed with the D.C. Superior Court as Susan Burns, 53, of Alexandria, Va., grabbed the painting by its frame and attempted to pull it off the wall. She then hit the painting, which was protected by a plexiglass shield, with her right fist, the court papers said.

Burns, who was handcuffed and detained, has been charged with attempted theft in the second degree.

According to court papers, Burns told an investigator: “I feel that Gauguin is evil. He has nudity and is bad for the children. He has two women in the painting and it’s very homosexual. I was trying to remove it. I think it should be burned. I am from the American CIA and I have a radio in my head. I am going to kill you.”

The painting, completed in 1899, depicts two women; one is bare-breasted, the other has a blue cloth covering one breast.
Sounds like Burns has issues with more than just artwork.
Burns has been arrested several times on has convictions for carjacking, disorderly conduct, trespassing, and assault on a law enforcement officer.

She served six months in jail after a 2006 conviction for assault and battery on a police officer.

3 comments:

uncledan said...

I got an idea, let's send her to a 'correctional facility', then when we think she's been 'corrected', we'll let her go again. That works all the time!

srdem65 said...

I KNEW IT! That's where those voices come from everytime I pick up my phone!!  A CIA radio in my head activated by the ringing noise, whew! I thought I was nuts.

Darwin Akbar said...

shades of Lazlo Toth...