Mark Rothko painting vandal says its more valuable now

A man who claims to be Umanets says he defaced a famous Mark Rothko painting with black marker at London's Tate Modern gallery, ABC News reported.

The painting, Black on Maroon, was defaced by a visitor to the Tate Modern on Sunday.

Police said a man wrote on the painting with a black marker "Vladimir Umanets 12" and "a potential piece of yellowism."

As GlobalPost reported, it is likely a reference the conceptual art blog www.thisisyellowism.com.

The man who claimed to be Umanets told ABC News: "I am not a vandal or some frustrated man. I did not destroy this picture. I did not steal anything."

"I really believe that eventually, this canvas, with my signature will have a higher value than Rothko's other paintings. Not immediately, but in several years," he said.

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Umanets said no one tried to stop him after he defaced the painting and that he had also considered defacing a painting either by Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock or Marcel Duchamp, ABC reported.

"I went into the Tate with a permanent black marker to inscribe a painting that I personally like the most. After looking at all of his painting, I realized I like 'Black on Maroon' the best," he said.