DOCUMENT: Bizarre, Crime

Gauguin Attacker Angered By "Very Homosexual" Art

Suspect said she was "CIA" with "a radio in my head"

Paul Gauguin

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Gauguin Attacked

UPDATE: Portrait (mug shot) of Susan Burns, from a previous arrest

APRIL 4--The woman who allegedly tried to tear a Gauguin painting off a wall at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. has been identified as a 53-year-old convicted felon who, after her arrest Friday, told an investigator that the French artist was “evil” and that his artwork “has nudity and is bad for the children.”

Suspect Susan Burns, who turned 53 Friday, also said that the Gauguin painting “Two Tahitian Women,” which is pictured at right and valued at $80 million, is “very homosexual. I was trying to remove it. I think it should be burned,” according to a criminal complaint filed in D.C. Superior Court. “I am from the American CIA and I have a radio in my head. I am going to kill you,” added Burns, who lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

On Friday afternoon, Burns allegedly walked over to the Gauguin painting in Gallery 214-C and “grabbed the frame holding said painting on its left side and attempted to pull it off the wall.” Burns, the misdemeanor complaint charges, then “struck the middle of the painting with her right fist.” However, since the painting was “protected by a transparent acrylic shield on the front,” no damage was observed.

A further analysis today of the painting revealed no damage to it, according to Deborah Ziska, a National Gallery of Art spokesperson. The complaint reveals that the “entire sequence of events was also recorded on videotape.”

Burns, who pleaded not guilty Saturday to a pair of misdemeanor counts related to the attempted Gauguin assault, appears to have a lengthy rap sheet that includes convictions for carjacking, disorderly conduct, trespassing, and assault on a law enforcement officer. (2 pages)

Comments (112)

I notice that Rick has been a member for 33 weeks and 4 days. Cincy at the time of this writing has been a member for 4 hours. Probably just another troll.
"And Christian extremists too...they have a lot in common with their Islamic brethren." Wow, show me a single Christian extremist out of millions of Christians in the US (besides the westboroh cult loons) Or do you mean you don't know the difference between respecting the idea of modesty and femininity and outright, murderous lunacy? You know what., I can call you out on every single idea and thought you have Cincy, because you are wrong on every count. Every. single. one. Who's the extremist nutjob now? me thinks it might be you
She is a narcissist here to save the world and all its children, doing and saying whatever she has to...in other words, she's a typical overbearing, busybody, liberal control freak.
Are you on drugs? Leftists don't destroy art, they define it (and destroy it that way). Physically destroying art is the province of the right wing. I mean, look at all the book burnings throughout history - I can't think of a single left wing one, not even the recent Koran burning.
"Leftists don't destroy art" Sure you have. You brought the State into it. You insisted that beauty is not an objective reality, and that for art to BE art it must be new, rather than good. You have rubbished art in the past century. Why do you think there's no more good "classical" music compared to when the best was written. Or art like Monet? Or literature like Shakespeare? The left has raped art. You have no right to say any different with your lies about the so called right. All you have is projections about your own ugly insides. Grow up.
Sounds like Japes the closeted, christianist, teabagger™ is projecting his right wing hatred on others.
"...projecting his right wing hatred on others." Nope, I just love art, and have hated watching it's destruction by heartless, mean spirited, shallow monsters such as you seem to be. Still, art and beauty will live on and there's NOTHING you can do about it. lol :)
I'm dipping upside down crucifix in urine just for Japes the closeted, christianist, teabagger™. Perhaps I'll decorate a Madonna for him after I've had a burrito.
"I'm dipping upside down crucifix in urine just for Japes the closeted, christianist, teabagger™. Perhaps I'll decorate a Madonna for him after I've had a burrito." lol!! I just had to re-post this to make sure nobody missed what you on the left proudly, admittedly consider art. Thanks! :)
I'll burn a bible that's wrapped in an american flag too, just for Japes the closeted, christianist, teabagger™.
And Cincy, let us get this straight. You think the cross in pee and poo on Madonna is art, and you think burning a bible and the flag of your country is, too? okay. whatever. lol :)
I would like to see someone poo on Madonna
Japes the closeted, christianist, teabagger™ has revealed the workings of the right wing authoritarian mind; he thinks that he and he alone is the judge of what is and is not 'art'. Hitler thought the exact same way, and confiscated what he termed as Decadent Art. Sieg Heil Japes, Adolph would be proud of you old chap.
Cincy, I made an account here to tell you to SHUT THE **** UP!!! People consider me on the left, even though I consider myself moderate or even neutral, and I don't act like nearly as much of an ***hole as you do. You are doing the side you assign yourself more damage and proving every stereotype right. So do yourself and your "side" a favor and SHUT UP!!! And on top of that realize that you are acting the exact same way as the people you're bashing.
"he thinks that he and he alone is the judge of what is and is not 'art'." Ahh, but I never said nor implied this in any way. You are projecting again there, Cincy. I said that I believe in real, actual, objective beauty and truth: and yes I did suggest that putting the symbols of another person's faith in pee is not art because of the depth of disrespect to another's human dignity. It is so inherent that it cancels out much chance of objective beauty and enlightening meaning being realized or shared. I suppose that can be debated, but either way it is indeed disrespectful of another person's faith and religion, don't you think?
How about when Pat Buchanan was invited to speak at Syracuse University and leftist students burned a Bible in front of the chapel in protest. Or Gregory Lee Johnson burning an American flag in protest at the Republican National Convention. Maybe lawsuits to ban certain Mark Twain books in school libraries because they are deemed racist because they contain the language that was common in the day they were written. Perhaps the practice of throwing paint on someone with a fur coat. Maybe those will spark a memory or two.
Fark your bible and your American flag too, teabagger asshat.
That wasn't his point, genius. lol... And BTW, you know very well that when you insult somebody by calling them a teabagger, you are also bringing to mind (of anyone reading your thoughts) the image of two men sucking on each other's gentiles. So you are the sick, low class creep amongst us; indeed! lol :)
AWWWW, did I hurt your delicate widdle fee-fee's? Teabaggers are so thin-skinned and are all chronic victims.
"...did I hurt your delicate widdle fee-fee's?" No, I just enjoyed calling you out for being a low class creep. :)
Methinks that Japes the closeted, christianist, teabagger™ protests just a little too much when it comes to other men's genitals. Come out of the closet Japes.
"Come out of the closet Japes." What do you mean? Are you implying that there's some reason to hide (ie. in the closet) if one enjoys sex with another of the same sex? What are you, a homophobic creep as well!?!@# (...next you'll be a disgusting racist too....Your bigotry is actually quite disturbing, but I guess I'm starting to get why you like talking about men having oral sex so much. )
Japes the closeted, christianist, teabagger™ is the only person that's brought up man-on-man oral sex here. He must think about it constantly.
"is the only person that's brought up man-on-man oral sex here" You haven't been listening Cincy. You brought it up first, which is why I first suggested that it wasn't appropriate. And it isn't. It doesn't matter if it is two men having sex, or a man or a woman, married or not, etc. etc. Some things just shouldn't be talked about so casually in public if you are a person of decency, and respect human dignity. So from now on, I want you to know that every time you attempt to insult another person by using that term, you are also trying to demean another's dignity by using a term which specifically brings to mind two men enjoying sex with each other. Yet this is strange, because if you have no problem with homosexuality, I am really not sure why you consider it an insult??
Japes the closeted, christianist, teabagger™ has some major sexual hangups. Seek help Japes.
"Seek help Japes." Help for what? I've wondered why you consider it insulting to talk about two men enjoying sex with each other. This is something quite beautiful for them, obviously, else they wouldn't do it. The question is why you consider it an insult? Can ... you ... understand ... what ... I ... am ... saying? lol :)
miso... an acronym meaning PsyOp. I love yer name! miso=Military Information Support Operations
No- leftists prefer to destroy art by sinking the cross in urine and spattering turds all over paintings of the Madonna. Burning by comparison would be, like, right-wing you know, and undefined. You're on to me about the miso thing...I also drive a black helicopter. Boo!
Yeah, have to admit piss-Christ wasn't art. Or that guy that cut his dick off. Like I said, the left can destroy art too, just not with fire. But why miso soup? Even a casual search turns up the connection....
Listening to radio programs like Beck, Limbaugh and Palin would make anyone go over the deep end...
LOL you leftists never learn do you? Thought you guys would have figured out how stupid it was to jump to conclusions after the Loughner fiasco when it turned out he was a dope smoking lefty after all the lefty talking heads had said pretty much what you wrote above, but then again if you lot were smart enough to realize that you wouldn't be lefties in the first place :)
Dude, Laughner became a Libertarian when he went insane. He was a liberal when he was sane. Seriously, look at his book list - Libertarian to the core.
"He was a liberal when he was sane. " lol...how do you know he was sane at any point? And he hated that woman he shot long before the tea party existed...genius. You are the creep for trying to demean others humanity by trying to associate them with a nutjob. There are millions of tea party people, and what, a couple of sign and incidents. It is a statistical irrelevance, obviously. In fact, the lack of incidents prove the opposite about tea party people. ie. they are likely not to be racist more than they are. Your Wisconsin protesters behaviour has proven who the civilized group is between left and right. (Yes, I know, you haven't seen the coverage on your secular leftist news outlets lol. Trust me, you acted horrifically and predictably low class, because you couldn't admit that the inherent conflict of interest involved with public unions is a problem. pathetic, selfish, mean spirited children.
Ah, you must mean the faked coverage of Wisconsin provided by Fox News. Their videos of violence and shoving and screaming etc... all turned out to be from a rally in Los Angeles, taped months before and re-used. When they got busted, it was a minor scandal. I'm shocked you never heard. Google 'fox fake wisconsin riot'. Also, only a Neanderthal would call a school teacher a thug. Don't you even remember your own childhood, or is your mind totally subsumed by slogans and bullshiat?
She's a convicted felon = liberal
Ah, so G. Gordon Liddy is a liberal! Thanks for clearing that up.
heh. convicted sex criminal = republican, every time.
Of course! A Dimocrat couldn't get it up!
From the National Socialists, to Mao, to Stalin, to Pol Pot, to Castro, to Chavez to Jared Loughner, to Joseph Stack, THE LEFT OWNS POLITICAL VIOLENCE. Its all you, progressives. And the Weather Underground, Ayers, Dorhn, planned to murder tens of millions. Now they , Cass Sunstein, Susan Powers, these radical extreme leftists are intertwined with the totalitarian authoritarian Obama regime.
You need to see a nice Jewish psychiatrist. First of all, Hitler was a fascist who based his right-wing dictatorship on Mussolini, kicked out all the trade unions and socialists, and beat up left-wingers and intellectuals in the streets. He even tried to re-define science and art. Also, I remember you self-righteous racist arrogant asshats protesting desegregation by unleashing dogs on black people. The KKK isn't terrorism? What about MLK? What about McVeigh? Remember Oklahoma City? Tens of millions dead in a race war, that was his plan. And then, Republicans have the Birthers, just to make them look like intellectual giants to the rest of the world. Ha, take that - you get the Birthers :)
Check your history: Lincoln - Republican; Majority of blacks who were elected to office in the 1860's, 1870's and 1880's - Republican; Designers of Jim Crow laws to oppress the black vote - Democrat; First film shown at the White House was a KKK recruiting tool and the administration was - Democrat; In the 26 major civil rights votes after 1933 the party who opposed civil rights legislation in over 80 percent of the votes - Democrat; In the 26 major civil rights votes after 1933 the party who majority favored civil rights in over 96 percent of the votes - Republican; The senator (who later became president) who voted to stall the 1957 Civil Rights Act - Democrat; The political party who favored the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by more than 80% - Republican; The political party who favored the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by just 61% - Democrat; The political party of Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor who, as the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham during the American Civil Rights Movement, directed the use of fire hoses, and police attack dogs against peaceful demonstrators, including children - Democrat. Get your facts straight please.
You leftists and Statists have been responsible for around 200 million deaths in the past 100 years! Mao was a leftist, Pol Pot the communist, Stalin, Ho Hussain and on and on. We warned you that DDT would kill people, and you didn't care! 40 million people dead now (mostly children) after a few decades, and you don't care! We warned you that if you "gave peace a chance" and abandoned the South Vietnamese, there would be a massacre. More people were slaughtered in the 1 year after the war by the Communists than in all the years of the war put together! You got the left into congress and proudly left them to die! You have so much blood on your hands you're living in an ocean of it. hmmm...No wonder you Statists are all so pissed off and angry all the time lol. :) "The bigger the government the smaller the citizen" Dennis Prager
"...beat up left-wingers and intellectuals in the streets." Oh come on! The first thing he did was confiscate the public's guns and murder Catholics and take over everyone's freedom who didn't agree with him. The only difference between him and Stalin is that he was a racist. He was an anomaly as a dictator, but obviously more left than right. The right is about less government , and more power to the individual. The left is about inherently about more power. That's why you guys have all the trial lawyers and are always making more rules on top of rules. "The bigger the government the smaller the citizen" Dennis Prager
Japes LOVES to be teabagged!
"Japes LOVES to be teabagged!" You sure do love your nasty imagery, creep. :)
I am not here to comment about the political leanings of the wanna-be vandalist. I would reccommend that you research the NAZIs (National German Socialist Workers Party) before you go spewing any further BS. Hitler was a socialist (that would be a leftist, so you don't have to look it up). MLK by the way was a Republican, as were a great number of the Civil Rights activists.
Another ignorant teabagger heard from. This one read Little Jonah Goldberg's book, which Little Jonah wrote in crayon.
"Little Jonah wrote in crayon." I'd love to see you in a debate with that great man. So, by the way, where are your George Wills, or Thomas Sowells, or Dennis Pragers on the left? You don't have them. All you have is petulant name callers, because they can't match the ideas. uggh it is pathetic, but a duty to call it out loud. p.s. and please stop talking about guys sucking each other's gentiles. You may get some perverse pleasure from bringing that image to people's minds; but it is just not appropriate! lol :)
Japes is obsessed with other men's genitals, but he's ashamed to admit it. Come out of the closet Japes old man. It will be OK.
Wow you sure do like using that term and talking about men sucking on each other's balls. But again, you should know that most *decent* people don't talk about the details of how they enjoy sex, and their toilet, and other things that are private, etc. If you want to be low class that's one thing...but I'm letting you know that every time you use that term, nobody is fooled and know full well that you know what you are doing. I'm trying to give you an education in decent, civilised behaviour; for your own good. :) And its been fun letting you know all this in front of the world. :)