Artist JonOne might even thank them for their intervention.
April 16, 2021
US graffiti artist JonOne (John Andrew Perello). Photo by Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images.
The internet was captivated by the story of the bumbling couple in Seoul who accidentally defaced a canvas said to be worth $500,000 out of a mistaken belief that it was a participatory art installation. Now, we know what the artist whose work they defaced thinks about the headline-making incident.
“With just three brush strokes on my canvas, they have managed to cause a planetary buzz?!? There is strength in that,” JonOne told Vice.
A Couple Accidentally Defaced a $500,000 Painting in a Seoul Mall After Mistaking It for a Participatory Artwork
The pair thought the array of paint cans and brushes beneath the painting was an invitation for the public to join in.
JonOne,
Untitled. The three dark blotches in the center were added by visitors to Street Noise, an exhibition at P/O/S/T, a gallery at Seoul s Lotte Street Mall, who mistook the display for the paint and brushes used to make the piece for the trappings of a participatory work. Photo courtesy of P/O/S/T.
A couple visiting a street art exhibition at a mall in Seoul unknowingly vandalized an abstract painting by American artist JonOne, said to be worth $500,000, painting three large dark splotches across its surface.