Jessy Edwards  |  June 2, 2021

Category: Legal News

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Artist KAVES Files Class Action Lawsuit Against NYPD for ‘War on Graffiti’
(Photo Credit: catwalker/Shutterstock.com)

A New York City artist known internationally as KAVES is leading a nationwide class action against his home city and its police department, after a mural he and a collaborator painted to honor their late mothers was painted over by cops.

The artist and Plaintiff Michael McLeer filed the class action lawsuit against the NYPD and the City of New York in a New York federal court Tuesday, alleging violations of the Visual Artists Rights Act and the Constitution.

The class action, which begins with the Pablo Picasso quote, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls,” takes aim at the NYPD’s recently relaunched campaign to clean up graffiti using untrained volunteers and officers.

“This case is about the NYPD’s attack on graffiti and street art that endangers hundreds of valuable, recognized, and permitted artworks across the five boroughs,” McLeer says, adding he is only representing the legally permitted artworks in this particular case.

“It is about the NYPD’s haphazard coordination of the ‘graffiti clean up campaign’ that enlisted volunteer members of the community and was heralded in the media as a so-called collaboration to build trust between public and the NYPD.”

McLeer says, in reality, the City lacked the budget to undertake the cleanup they announced in March this year, so recruited untrained volunteers and targeted artworks without looking into whether the work was permitted. 

“Using an undiscerning eye and an obtuse brush, the untrained crew went out to blot out art from street canvases.”

His own experience with the cleanup happened on April 10 this year, when he says NYPD 84th Precinct officers destroyed his mural, “Death from Above” by painting over it with grey paint. The mural was a dedication to Kaves’ and the collaborator’s mothers, both of whom passed away. 

McLeer says the mural was authorized by the owner of the wall, and had been there for 13 years. The wall was previously dilapidated, and he said the mural was well-liked by the wall’s owner, as it brightened up the corner. 

McLeer says the NYPD did not ask the property owner, tenant or him whether the mural was authorized by the property owner, and when they saw what had happened, they were shocked.

“The artist Kaves, the property owner, the tenant of the property, and many community members were shocked and enraged by the NYPD’s attack on the Mural which had been appreciated and preserved by the community for more than 13 years since its creation, and had become a community landmark,” the class action says. 

NYPD’s graffiti cleanup campaign is planned to run for the entire summer of 2021, the claim states.

McLeer believes many more of his artworks and those that are similarly situated have been and will continue to be attacked by NYPD, regardless of whether the artworks were authorized, long-standing, recognized, or protected by the Visual Artists Rights Act. He points out that graffiti and street art has become a world-respected form of art, and brings tourists to New York, which the city capitalizes on.

McLeer is looking to represent anyone who has installed artworks with permission from the property owners or operators within the City of New York, whose artworks have been, or may in the future be destroyed, mutilated, or distorted by the NYPD. 

He is suing for violations of the Visual Artists Rights Act and violation of Free Speech under the Constitution. McLeer seeks certification of the class action, and an injunction preventing the NYPD and others from engaging in destruction of street art and a full stop of the “graffiti clean up” operation.

He is also seeking an order for the NYPD to revise its policies as to cleaning up murals in the city by notice and public hearing, plus damages, fees and interest. 

Meanwhile, a class action lawsuit filed in January also charges the NYPD of using excessive force on Black Lives Matter demonstrators following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

What do you think of officials’ treatment of graffiti in your city? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by Juyoun Han, Eric Baum and Ayo Alston-Moore of Eisenberg & Baum LLP.

The NYPD Graffiti Clean Up Class Action Lawsuit is McLeer et al., v. NYPD et al., Case No. 2:21-cv-03093, in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York.


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