‘Yellowist’ charged over Rothko damage

A MAN has been charged with criminal damage after a Mark Rothko painting was defaced at London’s Tate Modern gallery.

Wlodzimierz Umaniec, 26, also known as Vladimir Umanets, was charged with one count of criminal damage in excess of £5,000 and is set to appear before magistrates at Camberwell Green this morning.

The Polish national, of no fixed abode, was arrested on Monday after the mural was vandalised on Sunday. The wording on the vandalised piece appears to read: “Vladimir Umanets, A Potential Piece of Yellowism.”

Umanets, who studied art, is one of the founders of “Yellowism”, which he describes as “neither art, nor anti-art”.