One of the curators of Tacky Tourist Photos bravely poses as the Poutiest Mona Lisa of All Time!

NASHUA, NH — To raise money for the Nashua Soup Kitchen, the curators of TackyTouristPhotos.com will stage a daring and ambitious piece of performance art called “Be the Mona Lisa” at the Floating Art Gallery on Sunday, Dec. 6.

Visitors will substitute their heads for the famous smiling lady immortalized by Leonardo da Vinci. Yes, this is the same Mona Lisa that survived a brutal coffee mug attack at the Louvre.  Why wait in those long lines in Paris, when you can zip up Route 3 North and scoot over to the Courtyard Marriott?  The excitement lasts from 6-9 p.m. and includes live music and a cash bar.

Tacky Tourist Photos will join more than a dozen artists, painters, photographers and sculptors at the charity benefit, at which a portion of sales will help one of the following causes: The Healthy NH Foundation; Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Greater Manchester; the Nashua Humane Society; St. Jude Children’s Hospital; Children’s International; Nashua Area Artist’s Association; Nashua Soup Kitchen; New England Aquarium; Animal Rescue League of NH; and the ASPCA.

Equally significant will be the culinary experience of enjoying complimentary Tacky Appetizers, which are rumored to involve delicately sliced Hostess and Little Debbie treats.

For more information, visit the Floating Gallery.

And doesn’t Pete just make the cutest Mona Lisa?

SUBMITTED BY: Ilya Mirman      LOCATION: The Louvre, Paris, France (2009)

Is ANY painting or ANY museum exhibit worth waiting in lines longer than the Outback Steakhouse on a Saturday?

Is it possible to enjoy the Mona Lisa when you know there are dozens of people hovering behind you, wishing that you would disappear?

No wonder why the coffee mug chick lost her mind.

Lines at the Louvre

Tacky Tourist Photos co-founder Ilya Mirman tried flashing his TTP card, but he has to wait in line just like everyone else.

(Ilya Mirman is the co-founder of Tacky Tourist Photos.  Click here to celebrate the rest of Tacky Tourist France Week!)

MONA LISA MUGGING -- Should souvenir coffee cups be banned from the Louvre museum gift shop?

By a unanimous 3-0 vote, the Executive Board of Directors of Tacky Tourist Photos unconditionally condemns the Russian tourist who threw her coffee mug at the Mona Lisa painting at the Louvre.

The London Telegraph recreates the scene here:

“Screams erupted from the 40-odd tourists jostling for position around Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic painted lady when the empty terracotta mug flew over their heads and smashed into the portrait.

“The Russian woman is thought to have bought it minutes earlier at the museum gift shop.”

Although the Mona Lisa is protected by bulletproof, mug-proof glass, we also condemn the Louvre security guards and French police for their weak response to the attack. Apparently, the woman is now staring at ink blots from a psychiatry couch instead of the appropriate punishment — being pummelled with coffee mugs.

“The Russian is being held in custody and has reportedly undergone a psychological examination,” The Telegraph reports.

“Doctors were trying to assess whether she was suffering from Stendhal Syndrome, a rare condition in which often perfectly sane individuals momentarily lose all reason and attack a work of art.”

Other press reports speculate that the Mona Lisa mugger was upset about being rejected for French citizenship. This would make the incident all the more outrageous.

The Mona Lisa is an Italian masterpiece. Attacking Italian art to retaliate against France is like punching an Egyptian mummy in the face to protest North Korean missile tests.

And we strongly condemn those missile tests, too.

(Note to TTP fans: After two consecutive days of condemning things, we return to our traditional photo line-up tomorrow.)