Rothko vandal at the Tate has defaced 'legendary' work, say artist's family We are heartened to have felt that embrace again in the outpouring of distress and support that we and our father have received both directly and in public forums. Black on Maroon is one of nine paintings originally commissioned for the Seagram Building in New York. It was on display in the Tate's Rothko Room when the vandal calmly walked over and inscribed the words: "Vladimir Umanets, A Potential Piece of Yellowism" across the canvas. Police are hunting the culprit on suspicion of causing criminal damage. Umanets, who is originally from Russia, was attempting to promote his obscure "Yellowism" movement, described on his website as "an autonomous phenomenon in contemporary culture." Today he claimed responsibility for the graffiti, telling the BBC: "I'm not a vandal. I haven't done criminal damage. Art allows us to take what someone's done and put a new message on it. He claimed to be a fan of Rothko and said: "There will never be another Rothko in the world ever. I would like to show such a wonderful piece in the context of yellowism. Umanets added that he was "not interested in spending time in prison." At the gallery today, the Rothko Room was closed to the public as experts worked on the painting. Chris Dercon, director of Tate Modern, said: "The first thing I thought when I heard what had happened was - can it be perfectly restored and given back to the public? We don't know yet and are looking at it very carefully. That is our priority. We are interested in looking to the future. The person who did this is a person of the past.