'[I'm] realising I destroyed an art piece': Artist realizes they accidentally covered up another artist's work

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 4, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

Some art is too modern for its own good. Modern art says a lot about the current conditions that people are living through. Consider the painting of an Uncrustable sandwich that's gone viral, or the robot that leaks oil and tries to clean it up before it dies. There are plenty of ways for modern artists to express themselves, and it seems like modern art museums are happy to indulge them. Sometimes modern art is so modern that you roll your eyes at it: but if it makes you feel a strong emotion, it has served its purpose! Other modern artists will create giant piles of rocks or debris. Some will create hours-long videos where they're standing in the same place. We can't always necessarily see the artist's vision, but just witnessing the art is enough. 

This person actually got to have their art in an exhibit. But they realized after the fact that they'd accidentally "fixed" their friend's art piece! As commenters noted, that does say something about the message of the art, as well as the human desire to fix broken things. Check out the story for yourself, and see if you think it was a mistake or not. 

Up next, read about why "Grandma… got kicked out of the store," and other amusing anecdotes about restaurant workers who were pitted against their most impolite customers. 

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    Cheezburger Image 10412075264
    via Nigel Hoare on Unsplash+

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    TIFU by realising I destroyed an art piece in a gallery 10 years ago
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 03
    While this event happened 10 years ago, I literally just realised an hour ago what I actually did. In 2014 I was just completing my Masters Degree in design. Now, the way the degree was set up it was one course of 40 people, but we were all doing different areas. Dance, architecture, sculpture, textiles, everything and anything. We'd have lectures together, and present the progress on our projects every couple of months.
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 04
    So end of year comes around and we start setting up our final gallery show. The space we were using was the first-year art students workshop, which we cleared out and prepped and pained fresh.
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 05
    When I arrived to do my part, one wall as a mess. Like 100 holes all over it, like a hammer and knife I that a first attack. I was year did this to a structural wall, and grabbed the sandpaper, filler and paint to fix it. The show went ahead fine with a warning 'wet paint' sign on that section. I think you can tell where this is going.
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 06
    You know how your brain suddenly reminds you of things out of nowhere? Like ', my laundry!' Or 'Argh I forgot to pay that bill!' Well, I'm sat in bed today and suddenly realise... ... that was Anna's master degree piece!'
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 07
    You see, Anna was a part time mature student on different hours to the rest of us. We saw one presentation of her work which was about making repeated holes/cuts into paper/card. I never thought about it much again. She must have come in before the rest of us, created the wall piece for the show, and left. And I'd gone a filled it and painted it away.
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 08
    To be fair, she never left any note or name on the piece. I don't even know if she knew what happened to it, since it's not like she would need to come back to collect it after the show since it was, you know, a wall. If she did, I hope she saw humour in it and added it to the piece's story - 'humans crave to repair damage' etc.
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 09
    Either way, I'm now silently cringing and may need to repent to the art gods lest karma strike me. TL:DRI filled and painted over someone's Master Degree installation piece because I thought is was a damaged wall.
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 10
    Edit: A quick edit just to answer a couple most common questions. 1. We'd all already presented our work for grading before the show, so I didn't affect her grades at all.
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 11
    2. By 'structural' wall I really mean a permanent outer wall of the room, rather than a temporary one built for hanging work in the show that is removed later.
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 12
    3. 'Why did you repair a random wall??' When you put on an art show, often you start with a grotty space that needs clearing up first. We had 3 days to clear out the junk, scrub floors, repair damage, build temporary gallery walls, paint
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 13
    everything white, hang work and lighting and clear up any construction mess. We all turned up whenever we had time to pitch in before the show.
    via u/emilydoooom
  • 14
    solo954 Your 'wet paint' sign was meta.
    via u/solo954
  • 15
    stoney_bologna I did a pop up show about 10 years ago that turned out to be a lot of hipsters. I went to grab a thumb tack out of a jar on the floor to hang my art and this guy freaked out saying the jar of tacks was his art hahaha.
    via u/stoney_bologna
  • 16
    b -her-scotch This reminds me of a post I saw where some prep cook left a full container of fresh broth on the counter in the dishpit, no label, no date, no nothing. So the dishie comes in and immediately dumps it out to throw the container in the wash lol
    via u/b***-her-scotch
  • 17
    I'm sure she had some point she was making by leaving it without a title card, but god I can't imagine what it was. I hope you don't lose too much sleep over it though! Honest mistake and you gave her a good story
    via u/b***-her-scotch
  • 18
    Koshindan This is the most extreme version of constructive criticism.
    via u/Koshindan

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