Marilyn Statue Gets Another Splash of Paint

Image via Chicago Tribune video screen grab.

For the second time in a month the Marilyn Monroe statue at Pioneer Court has become the target of vandals. Late last month someone scribbled gang graffiti on one of the statues legs. Sometime around 4 a.m. two men threw a bucket of red paint on the statue and fled on bicycles.

The Tribune quoted a man visiting relatives in town as saying the vandalism is a "blemish on the city of Chicago." Some folks who have to walk past the panty flashing sculpture may say the same thing of Seward Johnson's tribute to Marilyn Monroe's iconic pose in The Seven-Year Itch, in addition to asking what the hell the statue has to do with Chicago. But then, such sharp emotions in all directions is the intent of art. the statue must be doing its job in its own way as it racks up battle scars.