Welcome to SoHo:
Artist Persecution Capital of the World

SoHo is certainly America's most unusual art district. Unlike other art
communities, SoHo actively persecutes artists and fights against First
Amendment freedom.

SoHo's landlords became rich thanks to artists. Wealth brought the
landlords so much leisure time they can now afford to dedicate their
lives to calling the police about artists exhibiting paintings on the
publicly-owned sidewalk across from their buildings.

Trendy stores that located in SoHo to benefit from it being an artistic
neighborhood complain to the police that artists are, "Distracting the
public from buying our merchandise", and demand that they be forcibly
removed.

Residents who moved into SoHo because they wanted to live in an art
center whine that there are, "just too many artists". That's like moving
to the country and complaining that there are too many trees.

From 1993 until 1996 a pogrom against street artists was undertaken in
SoHo. Hundreds of artists were handcuffed and arrested due to
relentless political manipulation of the police by the SoHo Alliance, a
landlord advocacy group run by City Council Member Kathryn Freed
and her CB2 appointee, Sean Sweeney. Thousands of original works of
fine art were illegally confiscated and destroyed or were disposed of at
a monthly N.Y.P.D. forfeiture auction, yet, not one artists' case was
ever brought to trial.

To protect their own and every artists' constitutional rights, members
of A.R.T.I.S.T. were forced to file a number of Federal and State
lawsuits against the City of New York. Art museums, advocacy groups,
the ACLU and world renowned artists eventually joined the street
artists in the lawsuit.

Hoping to enlist the Federal government in their vicious campaign to
permanently cleanse New York City of street artists, Council Member
Freed and Sean Sweeney joined the Fifth Avenue Association, the
Madison Avenue Business Improvement District and three of the City's
most powerful real estate groups to file a scathingly worded amicus
brief against artists' rights in Federal Court.

Their brief attempted to deny First Amendment protection to fine art,
specifically, paintings, photographs, sculptures and limited-edition
prints. Ironically, Freed and Sweeney's brief also denied the validity
of Constitutional protection for SoHo's art dealers and gallery owners.
Perhaps that's the reason why they are still trying to keep their brief,
filed on 2/28/96, a secret not only from the public but from their own
ever dwindling number of supporters. It  states:

"The sale of artwork does not involve communication of thoughts or
ideas" and warns of, "the dangers...of allowing visual art full First
Amendment protection." It goes on to state, "...An artists' freedom of
expression is not compromised by regulating his ability to merchandise
his artwork....the sale of paintings and other artwork does not reach
this high level of expression (guaranteeing First Amendment
protection)..."  [#95-9089]. In a barrage of newspaper articles,
hysterical quotes by Freed and her real estate allies likened street
artists
to "parasites" and scapegoated them for everything from litter and
prostitution to the proliferation of communicable diseases.

Luckily for America's artists, Freed and the real estate lobby's
misbegotten views on freedom of expression were completely rejected
by the court. On 10/16/96 the street artists won their Federal lawsuit.
The 2nd Circuit Federal Appeals Court ruling unambiguously states:

"Visual art is as wide ranging in its depiction of ideas, concepts and
emotions as any book, treatise, pamphlet or other writing, and is
similarly entitled to full First Amendment protection....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...Displaying art on the street has a different
expressive purpose than gallery or museum shows;  it reaches people
who might not choose to go into a gallery or museum or who might feel
excluded or alienated from these forums.  The public display and sale
of artwork is a form of communication between the artist and the public
not possible in the enclosed, separated spaces of galleries and
museums...

Appellants are interested in attracting and communicating with the man
or woman on the street who may never have been to a gallery and
indeed who might never have thought before of possessing a  piece of
art until induced to do so on seeing appellants' works.  The sidewalks
of the City must be available for appellants to reach their public
audience..."
Lederman et al v. City of New York 959089 United States Court of
Appeals, Second Circuit. Argued April 26, 1996. Decided Oct. 10,
1996. For access to the full text of the ruling see:



     [http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html]

Will SoHo's landlords, merchants and gallery owners ever learn to
accept street artists? So far, the persistent (and mostly anonymous) calls
to the First Precinct and Peddler Squad continue. Such unjustified and
bigoted complaints about artists would be an embarrassment in any
civilized society, let alone in the self-proclaimed art capital of the
world. It's time for SoHo to accept that there is a First Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution and that it vigorously protects the rights of
artists.

Over thousands of years artistic freedom has withstood assaults from
countless dictators, elites and self-righteous censors. As long as there
is a SoHo there will be artists creating, displaying and offering, in
freedom, their creations on its streets.

Artists are SoHo's greatest resource. Artists, not landlords or cast iron
buildings, are what give SoHo its vitality, color and depth. Artists are
what makes SoHo more than just another non-descript shopping mall.

It's time for SoHo to stop vilifying those who butter your bread, sustain
your real estate values and attract the public to your profitable
restaurants, galleries and boutiques: living, breathing, hard-working
artists.

    For more information on A.R.T.I.S.T. or to express your opinion
                       on this issue please call:
      Robert Lederman (212) 334-4327  E-mail [log in to unmask]  or
                  visit the A.R.T.I.S.T. web site at:
              http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html