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# Exclusive: Octogenarian Restorer Strikes Again!
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/exclusive-octogenarian-restorer-strikes-again/
- Published: 2012-08-23T00:30:27.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:18:59.000Z
- Description: Remember the infamous 80 year old who "restored" the 19th C. fresco in a Spanish church? Some may think it's a joke, but we think she's a genius. We invited The Punk Restorer™ — we thought she needed rebranding — to shuck away her attempts to restore minor works and tackle masterpieces instead.
- Author: Hyperallergic 2
- Tags: Opinion, Beast Jesus, Cecilia Gimenez, LOL, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:51 (2012, 2013, part 1)

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/08/heres-what-happened-when-an-elderly-man-took-it-upon-himself-to-restore-a-painting-in-a-nearby-church.jpg "heres-what-happened-when-an-elderly-man-took-it-upon-himself-to-restore-a-painting-in-a-nearby-church")](https://hyperallergic.com/lessons-is-radical-art-restoration-what-not-to-do-101/)

Remember the infamous 80 year old who “[restored](https://hyperallergic.com/lessons-is-radical-art-restoration-what-not-to-do-101/)” the 19th C. fresco in a Spanish church? Some may think it’s a joke, but we think she’s a genius. Her unique brand of restoration foregrounds the meaning of things. What is a masterpiece? Who decides? Why is a crown of thorns better than a fur hat? And why should mouths have to be drawn completely anyway?

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/08/the-punk-restorer-200.jpg)

The Punk Restorer™ (from her Grindr account)

We thought about all the artists, including [Fred Wilson](http://judithestein.com/sins-omission-fred-wilson%E2%80%99s-mining-museum?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [Banksy](http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/jun/12/banksy-bristol-art-exhibition?ref=hyperallergic.com), who have been invited into museums to remix their collections or alter works, but how about masterpieces? Why are we soo timid?

We invited **The Punk Restorer™** — we thought she needed rebranding — to shuck away her attempts to restore minor works and tackle masterpieces instead. She reluctantly agreed. Below is her handy work. A new revolutionary movement of art restoration is born. Behold genius.

\[Spoof\]

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/08/mona_lisa-conserved-640.jpg)

You and I know that Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa” never looked soo good. And finally, someone fixed that wry smile.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/08/johannes_vermeer_conserved-640.jpg)

Nothing is more enchanting that Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” but honestly, subtlety doesn’t work anymore, this isn’t the 17th C.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/08/vangogh_restored-640.jpg)

Van Gogh needs to get over himself. A self-portrait becomes something to really probe his soul and why paint an ear when he’s going to eventually lose it anyway? Oh wait, that’s the other one. Oopps.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/08/the_scream-renovate-640.jpg)

To demonstrate her true range The Punk Restorer™, who is obviously influenced by Norwegian modernist Edvard Munch, decided to take this work into another (more accessible) direction and who gets why there were boats on the water anyway — a good restorer knows when to edit.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/08/warhol-restored-640.jpg)

Elizabeth Taylor may have been fodder for Andy Warhol’s silkscreens, but in the finished work by the masterful Spanish octogenarian her hair is obviously more mane than halo. Genius!