By Robert Lederman President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics); 2/26/97
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New York may be the world's art capital and a historic center for free speech but the Giuliani Administration has zero tolerance for artists' First Amendment rights. City attorneys filed an appeal today with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to reverse a Second Circuit Federal Appeals Court ruling declaring that, "Paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures, such as those appellants seek to display and sell in public areas of the City...are entitled to full First Amendment protection."
The Federal ruling had severely criticized the Giuliani Administration's street artist arrest policy, calling it "myopic" and, "unduly restricted" and concluded that, "The City's requirement that appellants be licensed in order to sell their artwork in public spaces constitutes an unconstitutional infringement of their First Amendment rights". The City's position, as described in its legal briefs, is that visual art is unworthy of Constitutional protection; that sidewalk art displays encourage petty crime, litter and a diminished quality of life; and that public displays of fine art are a serious threat to public health and safety.
The controversial arrest policy began in 1993 due to pressure from real estate interests led by the Fifth Avenue Association, the City's four most powerful Business Improvement Districts, the SoHo Alliance and City Council Member for SoHo, Kathryn Freed. On 2/28/96 Freed and the real estate interests filed an amicus brief in Federal Court claiming, "The sale of artwork does not involve communication of thoughts or ideas" and warning of, "the dangers of allowing visual art full First Amendment protection". Between 1993 and 1996 more than 400 New York City artists were handcuffed and arrested for displaying or selling original paintings, photographs, sculptures and limited edition prints on the street. Not one artists' case was ever brought to trial yet the City systematically destroyed the thousands of works of art it confiscated.
In 1994 members of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics) filed suit in Federal Court [95-9089 Lederman et al v. City of New York] charging Mayor Giuliani and various Administration officials with violating their First Amendment right to speech and Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection. To show paintings on the street, artists were required to get a vending license which the City's own legal briefs candidly described as, "unobtainable". At the same time the City allowed an unlimited number of book, magazine and baseball card vendors to sell on the street without a license or permit of any kind, based on First Amendment freedom.
A.R.T.I.S.T. president Robert Lederman, a plaintiff in the Federal suit who has been arrested thirteen times for selling his paintings, promises to keep showing his art on the street regardless of how the case finally turns out. He's hoping both Freed and Giuliani can be voted out of office this Fall. "These corrupt City officials make a public show of supporting the cultural venues of their wealthy campaign contributors but they neither respect nor understand artists, culture or the U.S. Constitution", he said. "Eliminating free speech rights, destroying works of art and arresting artists is the kind of criminally misguided policy found in dictatorships like Iran, Nazi Germany or the People's Republic of China. Mayor Giuliani and Council Member Freed are attacking artists' rights in order to please the real estate interests that put them in office. If they prevail before the Supreme Court and eliminate constitutional protection for visual art, this nation's artistic community will be plunged into a medieval age of fear, censorship and government repression."
For detailed information on the street artist Federal lawsuit or A.R.T.I.S.T. visit the A.R.T.I.S.T. web page at: http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html [It includes contact #'s; a bibliography of newspaper articles; the case's rulings; previous press releases; descriptions of arrests, etc.] or contact Robert Lederman (718) 369-2111 or (212) 334-4327 ; email <ARTISTpres@aol.com>. Press kits, photos etc. available on request.
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