Sonic Youth guitar stolen after show
Sonic Youth guitar stolen after show
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sonic Youth guitarist and singer Thurston Moore says his iconic guitar was stolen after a show in Philadelphia.
Moore reported on the band’s Facebook page Thursday that his circa-1966 Fender Jazzmaster guitar was pilfered late Wednesday night from the Best Western hotel where he was staying.
Philadelphia police spokeswoman Jillian Russell said Moore was in the hotel’s bar with his luggage and guitar when he noticed the guitar was missing. She said it’s valued at $20,000.
Such appeals to the public have helped the band track down stolen gear before. A rental truck full of their one-of-a-kind guitars, amps and drums was stolen in southern California in 1999.
Moore is a founding member of Sonic Youth, an influential alternative band that formed in 1981 in New York City.
Polish man jailed for defacing Rothko
LONDON (AP) — A Polish man who defaced a Mark Rothko painting in London’s Tate Modern gallery with black ink to promote an obscure artistic creed was sentenced Thursday to two years in jail.
Wlodzimierz Umaniec, also known as Vladimir Umanets, was arrested after visitors discovered a scrawl across the bottom of Rothko’s “Black on Maroon” on Oct 7.
The 26-year-old later said he had written the words “a potential piece of yellowism” on the abstract painting to draw attention to Yellowism, an artistic movement he co-founded.
A manifesto on the website thisisyellowism.com expounds upon the terms “art” and defines the concept as “not art or anti-art.”
Umaniec pleaded guilty to criminal damage over 5,000 pounds ($8,000). Prosecution lawyer Gregor McKinley said restoring the painting would cost around 200,000 pounds ($320,000) and take up to 20 months.
“Complications to this work include the unique painting technique used by the artist and the fact the ink used by Mr. Umaniec has permeated the paint layers and the canvas itself,” he said.