throwing a pot of paint Does "this gesture seemed to reverse Ruskin’s libellous statement about Whistler throwing a pot of paint into the public’s face" mean: "the act of a viewer throwing paint over a poster seems the reverse of Ruskin’s description of Whistler's art creation process that he describes it similar to throwing a pot of paint over the viewers' faces"? Context: The depth of feeling behind the negative responses that the campaign provoked can be gauged not only from complaints received, but also in the fact that the hoarding company, London and Provincial tried to renege on their posting contract, and from the hostile behaviour of one member of the public, who threw a pot of black paint over one of the posters near the Elephant and Castle in London. As Michael McNay, writing for The Guardian, noted, this gesture seemed to reverse Ruskin’s libellous statement about Whistler throwing a pot of paint into the public’s face and perhaps conferred an aura to the work by default.