An artist’s worst nightmare. Not a bad review or lack of sales, but accidental destruction of their work by careless gallery-goers. Art writer Kriston Capps tipped us off to the notice on the Flashpoint Web site, which tells us that Axelle Rioult’s exhibit Non Sans Emoi (As I Lay Myself…) is temporarily closed. Gallery Manager Rebecca Lowery told DCist that a private party held in the Flashpoint theater this past Saturday night escalated from a twenty-person sit-down dinner to a fifty-person out-of-control bash that moved into the art gallery and, by the end of the evening, was ripping down Rioult’s site-specific installation.

Though the venue occasionally rents out space for low-key receptions, it’s usually limited to corporate parties who provide proper security and rarely step above Mild on the party-scale. Lowery said that although this was a rare occasion where the venue was rented to a private person, the group seemed to be made of an “arts-familiar crowd.” This turned out not to be the case as they began “trying to be helpful” by cleaning up the French artist’s painstakingly placed and folded gauze.

The gallery is taking steps to recoup the loss, though it’s unlikely a monetary award will fix what Lowery describes as “devastating” to the artist, the curator, and the gallery itself. Since Rioult is in rural France and unavailable to come repair her work, the exhibit as it was will likely be closed, but Lowery is trying to design a “counter-creative” memorial to acknowledge the artist’s work and the destruction it suffered.