Street Art of the Day: When a Minneapolis Institute of Arts billboard advertising a Titian exhibit was vandalized to cover up the nude Venus from the artist’s iconic Venus Anadyomene, the museum sought to leave it up, telling Clear Channel Outdoor “we think it’s funny, just leave it, don’t bother replacing it.”
But the company, which owns the billboard, said it would have to remove it in accordance with its policy of taking down ads with graffiti “so as not to encourage vandalism.”
When asked if the graffiti was a museum-orchestrated publicity stunt to drum up business, MIA spokeswoman Anne-Marie Wagener denied the claim, adding: “we’re not that creative.”
[strib.]