A few weeks ago, a fellow named Vladimir Umanets took a trip to the Tate Modern gallery in London, waltzed up to a Rothko painting, and signed it in marker. After scribbling, “A potential piece of yellowism” on it, he fled the museum. Twitter broke the news, and soon enough, the media hullaballooed over this latest act of art vandalism. Why did he do it? Was he just another angsty, penniless artist? A hater of Rothko? Was it drugs?
