A painting that was damaged at the Carnegie Museum of Art when it was slashed with a key earlier this summer is undergoing restoration at the Art Institute of Chicago.

"A conservator on staff is working on it," said Erin Hogan, director of public affairs at the Chicago museum. She did not know when the conservation would be finished.

The contemporary art work, "Night Sky #2," is an oil on canvas painted by Vija Celmins, a Latvian artist whose work is well-known among art collectors. The painting was one of eight works by the artist that depict the night sky and was on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago. The canvas was damaged as it hung in the 2008 Carnegie International, an exhibition of contemporary art held in Pittsburgh about every three years.

A security guard, Timur Serebrykov, 27, of Greenfield, has been charged with institutional vandalism, a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine. A videotape on a security camera captured the act of vandalism, according to a police affidavit. Mr. Serebrykov faces a trial on Jan. 20 before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge John Zottola.

First Published: September 8, 2008, 4:00 a.m.