An art critic said she accidentally destroyed a $ 20,000 installation at a Mexico fair after placing a soda can near it in disdain.
Avelina Lésper said the piece — consisting of a large pane of glass with random objects like a soccer ball and feather suspended inside — exploded when she put her empty drink near it to express her disapproval Saturday at the Zona Maco fair.
“It was like the work heard my comment and felt what I thought of it,” Lésper said in a video statement for Milenio, a Mexican media group that publishes her columns.
“The work shattered into pieces and collapsed and fell on the floor.”
The critic apologized for what she said was a “lamentable incident” that “wasn’t intentional.”
Still, the gallery displaying the work by Mexican artist Gabriel Rico blasted Lésper’s behavior.
“Lésper coming too close to the work to place a soda can on it and take a picture as criticism without a doubt caused the destruction,” OMR gallery said in a statement on Instagram.
Lésper showed “an enormous lack of professionalism and respect,” the gallery said.
Ecuadorean painter Pavel Égüez, who had accompanied Lésper to the fair, defended her on Twitter, saying she didn’t touch the artwork and that the “too thin glass and weak structure caused the incident.”
Lésper said she suggested that the gallery should leave the broken piece on display, to show how it had evolved, and that when it rejected that idea she offered to repair it.
The gallery said it would speak with the artist before announcing its next steps.
The artist, Rico, told BBC News: “I am sad because this was very disrespectful for the pieces. This is a regrettable situation.”
With Post wires