Protest throws up an art form

A Canadian art student has found a curiously appropriate way to express his disgust at paintings he finds offensive, even stomach-churning. Rath- er than simply protesting verbally, perhaps with a "that makes me want to throw up", he actually does throw up - on the offending works.

It is a form of criticism that has got 22-year-old Jubal Brown into some trouble, not only with his faculty at the Ontario College of Art and Design but with the notable galleries where he has chosen to perform. The Museum of Modern Art (Moma) in New York, for instance, did not react well when last month he heaved all over a priceless Piet Mondrian canvas, Composition in Red, White and Blue.

So far, however, Mr Brown has escaped serious punishment. The student affairs committee of Ontario College this week condemned his behaviour as "reprehensible in the extreme", but stopped short of recommending suspension. Mr Brown did his barfing "as an individual acting on their own as a private citizen and not as representative of the college", the committee concluded.

It could be that his superiors are secretly impressed with Mr Brown's stomach and its acute sense of hue. For when Mr Brown disgorges on a picture he finds especially deserving he makes sure that the slimy result is imbued with the proper primary colour.

When he unloaded on a Raoul Dufy work at a Toronto gallery in May, he chose red and ate accordingly beforehand. For Mondrian, he settled on bright blue and gorged himself in advance on an azure cocktail of icing, yogurt and jelly.

Mr Brown, who likes to take friends along to watch, apparently needs no inducement to throw up; no fingers down the throat. The pictures alone are enough. "I go into a gallery with my stomach full of a particular colour and whatever inspires me inspires me," he said. "It's very simple and direct."

At the Moma, he was briefly tempted by a Picasso before awarding the Mondrian his special prize.

"Its extreme banality made me sick," he said. Moma, which saved the canvas from lasting damage, originally thought it was an accident but protested to Ontario College when it discovered otherwise.

Mr Brown has been told, meanwhile, to keep his vomit to himself or he will have to face more serious consequences. He is unlikely to comply.

With red and blue out of the way, he is now looking for a work that would benefit from decoration in canary yellow. Might we suggest sweet corn with grated rind of lemon topped off with a double helping of Bird's custard?