Vija Celmins Painting Vandalized By A Carnegie Guard

Several dramatic events came out today related to the Carnegie Museum. The museum revealed that Vija Celmin's Night Sky#12 which is owned by the Carnegie and part of the International was damaged beyond repair by a museum guard.

Celmin's Sky paintings are insanely beautiful and meditative. I think I first came accross her work at Sonnabend Gallery in the early 1990's and saw an amazing solo at the Whitney in the mid or late 1990's

"I didn't like the painting," Timur Serebrykov told police when they arrested him at the museum on May 20, the affidavit said."

"According to the police affidavit, the painting was damaged on May 16, leaving a "large vertical gouge" down its middle.

Ellen Baxter, the museum's chief conservator, told police that the art piece was a "total loss."

A surveillance tape caught Mr. Serebrykov in the act of defacing the painting, the affidavit said."