Readers were asked to spot the difference between vandalism and modern art following a court case where “comedy terrorist” Aaron Barschak had committed criminal damage at an art exhibition.

The self-styled comedian attacked Modern Art in Oxford and poured paint over the artist and his work ten days before famously gate-crashing Prince William’s 21st birthday party at Windsor.

But when police revealed the extent of the damage by releasing a photo of the inside of the gallery, the Oxford Journal and Oxford Courier couldn’t resist challenging its readers to spot the difference between artwork and vandalism.

Barschak told the court he had been making a protest against the current Turner Prize nominations.

Group editor Lawrence Webb said: “We were running it as a straightforward news story about him throwing paint, Pollock style, over a ‘defaced’ Goya, and its artist Jake Chapman – then the police released the picture we used on the front.”

Answer revealed

The vandalised work had already been officially defaced – or modified – by the drawing ghoulish or cartoonish faces on them, and the artists were selling them for a profit of about £100,000.

But the judge warned his defendant, “Even by modern standards – and even by stretching the imagination to incredulity – this was not the creation of a work of art but the creation of a complete mess.”

He was found guilty of criminal damage and warned that he could face a custodial sentence.

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