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)

Everything is about politics with you lefties isn't it.
People do this kind of stuff all the time where I live so they can convince a judge they're a mental case and get SSI, free rent, and $1000/month, food stamps, help with utilities, and a large check many use to finance a drug party. Rob a Walmart and say you're depressed... you get taken care of the rest of your life.
Her actions were "Performance Art". The resulting damage and alteration of the original will appeal to many in our society, particularly those who appreciate Anarchy. I appeal to those at the National Gallery to lobby for this woman to receive substantial NEA funding so that she may continue to enhance and perfect her "Craft". I also plead with you to leave her achievement with Gauguin's "Two Tahitian Women" unmolested. It is now a new and vibrant work of art that must be preserved in it's current condition for future generations to appreciate.
CIA hires alot of folks living in andf around that area for various positions from housekeeping, cooks, vendors, clerks and other...she probably was hired by them at one time and subsequently fired for cause...
Someone has some repressed issues.
Another reason the CIA shouldn't be allowed to put radios in crazy people's heads,
But how else will we learn of their disdain for Tahitian lesbians?
You're absolutely right. These stories never involve sane people with radios in their heads. The CIA needs a more stringent qualification process.
this is too weird.
Seems like the best judges of homosexuals are the ones who say they don't like it? Why do they know so much about it then? #Funnythat
Mugshot, please!
If I had to identify the top two things that reek of homosexuality, I'd say they are right boob and left boob.