At approximately 2.28pm today the 'clasp' the statue outside Newcastle University Students' Union was graffitied.
According to witnesses outside the union a young man ran up to the statue and swiftly sprayed it with yellow, blue and white spray-paint.
Julia McGee-Russell a Second Year Student at Newcastle University and witness to the graffiti told the Courier:
"I was coming around the corner from the heads on campus, and I saw a small group of people around the statue. Then I noticed someone was spray painting it.
I saw him finish two parting sprays of his spray paint, turn around and shout the name 'Jamie Evans', and sprint in the other direction down the steps past Kings Gate.
He was carrying a shopping bag full of other spray paint cans. When I stopped to take a picture of the graffiti, I noticed he had come back and stopped at the top of the Kings Gate steps to do the same."
The statue by Sir Anthony Gormley has in the past received criticism from students and is on loan to the University as part of Sir Antony’s Blockwork series.
Lines and dots can now be seen on the statue, painted by the unknown man.
The sculpture has been the focus of other art demonstrations in the past, with Fine Art students attempting to place A white gnome on top of the statue intended to be a ‘ “symbolic gesture of reclaiming of campus spaces”.
However the statue has never been physically marked until now.
Carys Rose Thomas, A Third Year Student at Newcastle University commented:
"To be honest I didn't like the statue when it arrived but as the year has gone on I have just gotten used to it. I found it funny when someone put a little gnome on top of it, but if you are going to do something funny to it or with it then make it a bit more original than just spray painting a squiggle."
However, Helena Buchanan another Third Year Student disagreed:
“Intellectual property shouldn’t be static, especially it’s on a university campus. Art is a conversation and vandalism should be part of this process”
Follow @courieronline for more updates as the story develops.