Boy sticks gum on painting

Apparently, one 12-year-old visitor to the Detroit Institute of Arts doesn’t think much of abstract art.

The boy stuck a wad of gum to a $1.5-million painting called “The Bay” by Helen Frankenthaler, leaving a stain the size of a quarter, officials said.

The boy, who was not identified because of his age, was part of a school group that was visiting the museum last week when officials said he took a piece of gum out of his mouth and stuck it on the 1963 painting.

The museum’s conservation department is researching the chemicals in the gum to decide which solvent to use to clean it. Meanwhile, the boy has been suspended from school.

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