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CANBERRA - Thousands of litres of water pouring into a corridor containing about 20 paintings sounds like a nightmare for an artist, but for Paul Blahuta it has been an unexpected dream.
The Sydney artist was at home bathing his young child last Friday when he was phoned by the National Museum of Australia (NMA) in Canberra and told 18 works from his Lifeguard Series had been damaged in a severe hail storm.
A ceiling had collapsed in an administrative wing of the museum, sending several Blahuta paintings plummeting three metres to the water-covered floor.
"It's an extraordinary event," the artist told reporters in Canberra yesterday.
"How can you predict hail on a brand new museum would build up on a particular area and a wall to come down on your pieces? I mean it's a once in a lifetime sort of thing."
The event received national and international news coverage.
Blahuta said he even received a phone call from a friend in China who had just seen the story on the news there.
This sent excitement through the Sydney artist's veins as, in the art world, notoriety is everything.
"Quite frankly, I think this adds a lot of value to the pieces, this experience," he said.
Blahuta said the price of his artwork would rise "without a doubt".
- AAP
