Artists To Protest Show of Art by Mayor Giuliani
in SoHo this Friday 5/8/98 Leica Gallery #670 Broadway
Protest begins 11A.M. Contact # (718) 369-2111

Who ordered hundreds of artists falsely arrested; denied them a
trial; had thousands of works of original fine art destroyed; spent
years trying to eliminate constitutional protection for visual art as
a form of speech; and then tried to pass himself off as an artist?
Was it Adolph Hitler? Josef Stalin? Chairman Mao? Sadaam
Hussein? Fidel Castro? No...It s Rudy  Police State  Giuliani.

Starting on May 8th, 1998 Mayor Giuliani is showing his latest
photos at The Leica Gallery [212 777-3051] a renowned SoHo
exhibition space located at 670 Broadway. The semi-secret
opening is closed to the public and only select members of the
media will be admitted. According to gallery photographers
whose works were abruptly removed from the show, Giuliani
demanded that besides his own  masterpieces , the works of all
other living photographers  must be excluded. The Mayor snaps
his Kodak moments after posing for photo opportunities at
homicides, accidents, fires, rapes, building collapses, watermain
explosions, arrests and other tragedies. Unlike professional
photographers who are often harassed while trying to document
these scenes despite freedom of the press, Mayor Giuliani enjoys
unabridged First Amendment freedom, as befits the man the
N.Y.P.D. has affectionately nicknamed,  The Gestapo Chief .

Critics of the Mayor believe the show s real purpose is to counter
bad press he s received by ordering daily arrests of
artist/protesters in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
during the past two months [see NY Times Metro pg 1 3/22/98
 War of the Paintbrushes .]  Further attempting to raise his
artistic profile the Mayor just pledged $65 million of the
taxpayer s money to expand the Museum of Modern Art, a
private institution whose board of directors are some of the
City s wealthiest real estate developers, bankers and billionaires
including David Rockefeller, Jerry Speyer, Ronald Lauder
and Donald Marron, the chairman of Paine Webber. MOMA,
one of the world s most successful art museums, allegedly earns
more than $250 million each year in their gift shop alone. Giuliani
has denied that this is a peculiar way to spend tax dollars when
the City s schools are in a state of immanent physical collapse.
According to a 4/24/98 N.Y. Times article, while standing in
front of a series of Warhol prints of Marilyn Monroe, Giuliani
cited cultural benefits to schoolchildren as justification for the
$65 million grant to the private art museum.  "Someone could
say, 'Why not spend this on schools? , the Mayor said. "For
some young people, this could be even more important than
school."

Since Giuliani took office he has waged an unrelenting campaign
on behalf of real estate developers and corporate interests to
eliminate both the livelihoods and free speech rights of the City s
street artists. In an appeal brief [Giuliani v. Lederman et al and
Giuliani v Bery et al 98-9089] that he filed on 2/24/97 Mayor
Giuliani asked the U.S. Supreme Court to deny First Amendment
protection to visual art. The Mayor's brief claimed, "An
exhibition of paintings is not as communicative as speech,
literature or live entertainment, and the artists' constitutional
interest is thus minimal." In a 2/24/97 interview on WNYC's
syndicated business news show, "Marketplace", Elizabeth
Freedman, an attorney representing the Corporation Counsel's
office, confirmed the City's anti-art position. "Visual art...does
not express ideas and as such is not entitled to First Amendment
protection." An amicus brief supporting the Mayor s position
signed by The Fifth Avenue Association, the Alliance for
Downtown New York, the Grand Central Partnership, the Thirty
Fourth Street Partnership, the Madison Avenue B.I.D. and the
SoHo Alliance warned of,  the dangers of allowing visual art
full First Amendment protection .  On 6/3/97 the Court denied
the Mayor s appeal.

The Giuliani appeal was filed in response to a 10/16/96 2nd
circuit Federal Appeals Court ruling in favor of the City s street
artists which affirmed that, "Paintings, photographs, prints and
sculptures...always express ideas and as such are 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." This ruling guaranteeing artists full First
Amendment protection is now the law in New York City.
Unfortunately for the City s 400 or so street artists, arrests,
confiscations and the misuse of police resources to harass artists
continues as if the case never existed.

Among the demonstrators at the Mayor s art opening will be
A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists  Response To Illegal State Tactics)
President, Robert Lederman who has been arrested 31 times
while protesting against Mayor Giuliani. Lederman and fellow
artist/activists Wei Zhang, Knut Masco and Jack Nesbitt
recently filed a $200 million dollar lawsuit against Giuliani and
Parks Commissioner Henry Stern for violations of their
Constitutional rights, false arrest, illegal confiscation of their art
and an attempt to institute a new license/permit system for street
artists in the City s parks. Please join New York City s street
artists in welcoming the Mayor at his art show.

Also see: N.Y. Times Editorial 4/28/98,  Restoring the City Arts
Budget ; N.Y. Times 4/24/98,  MOMA to Get $65 Million for
Expansion ; NY Times 3/2/98 B1;  Newsday 3/2/98 A7; Village
Voice 2/24/98 pg 57; Newsday 2/26/98 A8; NY Times 6/3/97
B2; NY Times editorial 3/4/98; Newsday 3/16/98 pg 4. NY
TIMES Metro pg 1 3/22/98  War of the Paintbrushes ; Time Out
4/16-23/98 pg. 39  Brush With Danger ; N.Y. Times Metro
4/18/98  Judge Upholds Limit on Artists Selling Pictures Near
Museum ; Newsday 4/20/98 cover story  Under Giuliani City
Has Repeatedly Stifled Dissent .
For more information contact Robert Lederman (718)
369-2111 E-Mail: [log in to unmask] To read the 2nd
circuit decision go to:
http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html
Mayor s Press Office 788-2958; Parks Comm. Henry Stern
360-1305; Thomas Rozinski, legal counsel Parks 360-1314;
William Leurs, Pres. Met Museum 570-3900; Museum Press
office 570-3951