“Of course this is why art vandalism is the ultimate burn. It\u2019s a criticism of societal structures.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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It’ s not cool to like Jeff Koons. This type of museum behavior seems to be occurring more frequently and often crossing the line into art vandalism. While we all often struggle to get our artistic voices heard, the purpose of the museum is to share and educate and defacing a work of art is a big time no no.<\/p>\n Recently at a contemporary art museum that I may or may not be employed by, it came to our attention that someone had been photographing themselves naked in different galleries and posting them on Instagram #nakedatthemuseum. The prank, in my opinion not a particularly creative or interesting one, did give me a chuckle as it seemed harmless enough. Then there was the vandalism. The participants of this naked tomfoolery tagged their names across some of the artwork. Nope, sorry, not cool. And you know what, the amount of people that decide to tag artwork at said museum is quite surprising, and thus, the idea itself, not particularly original. But my interest has been sparked, what drives someone to this type of behavior at a museum?<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/image.jpeg\")
<\/a> The Koons retrospective at the Whitney Museum has caused a reaction of huffs, shrugs, and eye rolls amongst my fellow art makers and enthusiasts. It\u2019s not just his goonie face we can’t stand, it\u2019s what he represents, a pop art god running a mega art factory, pumping out work worth millions that seems so detached from anything a human could create. When the picture of Istvan Kantor’s vandalism popped up on my newsfeed last week, next to the Jeff Koons iconic “Rabbit” piece, I had a minor anxiety attack. Is the work okay? It was, sweet relief. The giant X in blood red paint, a signature of Kantor (art name Monty Cantsin) was assigned to the wall. This allowed me to give Kantor two thumbs up for proper museum delinquency.<\/p>\n<\/a>My thought process immediately goes to two extremes. First let\u2019s recount Lazlo Toth\u2019s 1972 vandalism on the Pieta. At the age of 33, Toth attacked the statue while yelling \u201cI am Jesus Christ\u201d removing Mary\u2019s arm, nose and damaging much of the statue in 15 blows. Toth was immediately placed in a psychiatric institution (Istvan Kantor was also immediately placed under psychiatric evaluation after his removal from the Whitney Museum). Toth remained institutionalized for two years, his criminal charges were dropped. In late January 2014, a picture of a child climbing on a Donald Judd installation at the Tate Modern went viral. Art lovers around the world were furious. The parents of the child stated \u201cOur nine year old was just being anti-establishment\u201d. Way to fight the man nine year old kid. The fact is, this type of behavior outrages people, and rightfully so. Art making represents expressions throughout history. We may know what happens factually in terms of historic documentation, but art represents what people were feeling. If we tolerate a blatant disregard for that, we are destroying the history of humanity.<\/p>\n