The Hurler On The Ditch

Painter Helen Frankenthaler's landmark abstract work "The Bay" just got a little more abstract -- to the dismay of Detroit museum officials.

A 12-year-old boy visiting the Detroit Institute of Arts with his school group on Friday stuck a wad of chewing gum on the painting, which is worth an estimated $1.5 million, the Detroit Free Press said.

The barely chewed Wrigley's Extra Polar Ice gum left a residue stain about the size of a quarter in the lower left-hand corner of the painting, the newspaper said...

...Museum curators expect to be able to remove the gum residue with a solvent once they have researched the chemicals contained in the gum, assistant contemporary art curator Becky Hart said....