Maximo Caminero pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal mischief for smashing a vase painted by Ai Weiwei which was on exhibition at the Pérez Art Museum Miami on Feb. 16.
According to the New York Times, Caminero, a 51-year-old artist from the Dominican Republic, will not have jail time under the plea agreement. He’ll serve 18 months of probation and serve 100 hours of community service by teaching children how to paint. He’ll also pay $10,000 in restitution to the company which insured the vase.
Ten-thousand dollars seems like a modest cost for the vase, in Garth Clark’s opinion; he would have priced it closer to $75,000. It could be that the difference was so Caminero wouldn’t have to pay too onerous of a bill. The appraisal of this vase has been all over the board since the incident occurred. The police initially said the vase was worth $1 million.
Caminero, after smashing Ai’s vase, called the destruction a political act. He was angry because the Museum wasn’t exhibiting the work of local artists. However, it was later reported that Miami artists were featured in galleries there.
Caminero also said at the time that he felt he was being called to participate in a protest with Ai because the vases stood in front of Ai’s famous Dropping of a Han Dynasty Urn triptych. We pointed out before that the urn in that photograph was one owned by Ai. At his plea hearing Caminero said that Ai shouldn’t break ancient vases, either.
Above image: Screenshot of a video showing Maximo Caminero smashing a vase painted by Ai Weiwei in February.
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Criminal mischief seems like a suitable charge for his behavior. Breaking other people’s stuff even with good reasons, is still a harmful act.
If we can weight it through utilitarian method, the artistic value lost and monetary damage caused by Caminero’s action seems bigger then the value he has created in my opinion. what do you think?
Not a fan of Wei, but no artist should destroy another artists work. A self serving publicity act and his punishment was light.
Not a fan of Wei but no artist should destroy another artists work. His punishment was light.
How Rude !
I just wonder if this was not a set up, it all looks too pre arranged, a cheap way to
garner some free publicity for the Perez Museum, which does not have a good track record in it’s brief history
I certainly do not like the condescending tone of this article at all, no matter what would have been the actual insurance value or what.
Further, from a conceptual viewpoint, irrelevant of what was Mr. Caminero’s verbal explanation or punishment, I find the action in this particular case incredibly interesting. Nothing would be more fascinating to ask Mr. Wei’s own opinion about this. One should ask him.
Ai has spoken about this and very clearly, he was furious saying that it is not the purpose of art to invite viewers to act out what they see (and in this case with little understanding of the artwork itself). What if there was a painting of someone being killed with gun? A museum should be a safe haven for art and public needs to be trusted to behave with respect or else the entire premise of art in public places falls apart.