A painting by Helen Frankenthaler, valued at $1.5 million dollars, and entitled “The Bay”, has been updated by the addition of a wad of chewing gum. The painting, which hangs at the Detroit Institute of Arts, was enhanced when a twelve-year-old boy, visiting with his class during a school field trip, parked his gum on the lower left corner of the painting, where it left a stain “about the size of a quarter.”

Ironically, the painting, which can be seen in the linked story, looks like nothing more than it itself looks like a big water stain. I’m not sure whether the greater irony is in that the ‘artwork’ was valued at $1.5 million at all, or in that when a painting called “The Bay” gets some garbage tossed in it, it creates a whole lot more commotion than when the real bay has tons of garbage deposited in it annually.

How Ironic is This?? 1 Iron: Totally Lame 2 Irons: "Is that the best you can do?" 3 Irons: "Some might see some irony in this." 4 Irons: Tinged with Irony 5 Irons: Now That's Ironic!         Vote now on the    IRON-O-METER  Our readers give this story 2.8 irons!

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