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When $1,100,000 of art is mistaken for dirt

kenny

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http://www.thelocal.de/society/20111103-38649.html

Kippenberger artwork worth €800,000 'cleaned' away
Published: 3 Nov 11 17:06 CET

A cleaning woman at a museum in Dortmund who mistook a Martin Kippenberger sculpture for an unsightly mess has destroyed the valuable artwork beyond recognition.

The cleaner at the city's Ostwall Museum went to work on the Kippenberger installation entitled "When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling" which was valued by insurers at €800,000 ($1.1 million), a museum spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The late contemporary master had created a tower of wooden slats under which a rubber trough was placed with a thin beige layer of paint representing dried rain water. Taking it for an actual stain, the cleaner scrubbed the surface until it gleamed.

"It is now impossible to return it to its original state," the spokeswoman said, adding that the damage had been discovered late last month and that the work had been on loan to the museum from a private collector.

She said that cleaning crews had orders to remain 20 centimetres (eight inches) away from artworks but it was unclear if the woman had received the directive from the external company that employed her.

Works of art not infrequently fall victim to zealous cleaners. In 1986, a "grease stain" by Joseph Beuys valued at around 400,000 euros was mopped away at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf, western Germany.

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When saving money by contracting work out isn't a good idea...

I sure hope that cleaning company is bonded! :wink2:
 
Just my opinion, but it looks like a good cleaning didn't hurt it. Art, indeed.
 
I have some beige acrylic paint in my craft room that might do the trick! :cheeky:
 
The thought of that cleaner siting back on her heels, rubbing her hands and feeling really pleased at her efforts (after all that 'rainwater' must have been pretty hard to remove) make me want to laugh and gasp in horror at the same time. :lol:

Poor woman, she must feel terrible.
 
Oh dear! I have a spot or two she could come work on! :lol: I'm sure that she feels terrible, but it really IS kind of funny!
 
Well, hmmmm. "One man's trash is another man's treasure" ??? Or vice versa?

Obviously, I'm in the wrong business. I should be creating 'art'. Since talent seems to be beside the point.
 
HollyS|1320460511|3054391 said:
Well, hmmmm. "One man's trash is another man's treasure" ??? Or vice versa?

Obviously, I'm in the wrong business. I should be creating 'art'. Since talent seems to be beside the point.

:lol: I agree...I think I've got some wood in the garage. I think I'll get started!
 
JewelFreak|1320434209|3054061 said:
Just my opinion, but it looks like a good cleaning didn't hurt it. Art, indeed.

Hear hear. And may I take this opportunity to go on a mini-rant about modern "art". I was at the MoMA recently and you know what was displayed there, no doubt priceless and highly acclaimed: a square piece of canvas pained white. So it was a white piece of canvas. And then someone painted over it again. In white. It was the exact same. IT WAS A WHITE SQUARE.

Gah. I don't get it.
 
Porridge|1320529568|3054769 said:
JewelFreak|1320434209|3054061 said:
Just my opinion, but it looks like a good cleaning didn't hurt it. Art, indeed.

Hear hear. And may I take this opportunity to go on a mini-rant about modern "art". I was at the MoMA recently and you know what was displayed there, no doubt priceless and highly acclaimed: a square piece of canvas pained white. So it was a white piece of canvas. And then someone painted over it again. In white. It was the exact same. IT WAS A WHITE SQUARE.

Gah. I don't get it.

Ah, but that white canvas could be painted to become ANY painting in the universe, surpassing even the Mona Lisa.
That's brilliant, genius, priceless.
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Yes, I'm pulling your leg. :wacko:
 
See, I think we've overvalued the artwork and undervalued the cleaning person. But that's just me. I'm glad this wasn't about antiquities and pottery or something. It's cleaning day at my house. I've made a good start but I'm procrastinating at this point. ;( I'll try not to clean any of the art. :lol:
 
Imdanny|1320540558|3054910 said:
See, I think we've overvalued the artwork and undervalued the cleaning person. But that's just me. I'm glad this wasn't about antiquities and pottery or something. It's cleaning day at my house. I've made a good start but I'm procrastinating at this point. ;( I'll try not to clean any of the art. :lol:
TRUE :D
 
Imdanny|1320540558|3054910 said:
See, I think we've overvalued the artwork and undervalued the cleaning person. But that's just me. I'm glad this wasn't about antiquities and pottery or something. :
Well spoken!
 
Awwwww, thanks! :))

I worked for a cleaning service one summer cleaning hotel kitchens. 5 gallon drums of chemicals, grills that were cleaned by turning them to high and pouring chemical on them until the surface of the grill was boiling grease and chemicals, mop buckets with a gallon of bleach, I could go on...

We worked in the middle of the night and didn't get paid more than, I think it was $200 a week but I forget how many hours.

These contract services don't pay well, and the one I worked for offered no benefits.

I think everyone who cleans and does direct care (that's another one) should be valued more.
 
JewelFreak|1320434209|3054061 said:
Just my opinion, but it looks like a good cleaning didn't hurt it. Art, indeed.

I think if art is that easily mistaken for crap then it's probably closer to crap than art.
 
I think this needs to be changed to "When dirt is mistaken for $1,100,000 of art". I'm sorry, I do not understand what makes people think that things like this represent art. Does that mean that I can cut the lid off a milk jug, fill it with some flour and call that art? Can I tape four water bottles together, name it a raft and call it representational art? I mean seriously. DaVinci and Donatello would roll over in their graves.
 
What's to say cleaning off the rain-evaporation-residue didn't make it even better art, and now worth $2-million?
 
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