Bored guard gets creative; gallery loses $1 m!

A security guard at an art gallery in west-central Russia took out a ballpoint pen and drew eyes on two of three faceless figures in the piece of art because he was “bored”. He did this on his first day on the job and was fired for defacing a valuable painting.

The vandalism took place at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Centre in the city of Yekaterinburg in west-central Russia, where the painting was on display. Two visitors spotted the extra details on the figures and reported it to a gallery employee.

The guard is believed to have defaced the painting on December 7, 2021, but he was sacked this week after his identity was ascertained, according to a media report.

The artwork, Three Figures, was insured for roughly $1 million or `7.51 crores. The Yeltsin Centre said in a statement that they had identified the private security organisation employee “who painted the eyes on the figures” but did not disclose his name.