Yoshitomo Nara arrested in New York
A famous Japanese artist has been arrested in New York City [Via Jean Snow]:
Yoshitomo Nara, a contemporary Japanese pop artist known for sculptures and paintings of doe-eyed figures, was arrested in late February for tagging graffiti in the Union Square subway station, a New York Police Department official said Monday.
The artist was arrested at 3:10 a.m. on Feb. 27 and was charged with criminal mischief, possession of graffiti instruments, making graffiti and resisting arrest, detective Martin Speechley told Kyodo News in a phone interview.
Nara, who has already been released, has said that he enjoyed the experience of being held in a jail cell and that it was “like in the movies.”
[image of the graffiti taken from The Art Collectors via Watashi to Tokyo]
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Yeah, that wall looked so beautiful, before he drew on it.
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Monster gaijin.
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Definitely enjoyed his gallery in Hirosaki.
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I could see a fine, a reprimand, and making him buy supplies and clean it up or repaint. But two days in jail?
Wow, I didn’t know that graffiti was punished so harshly.
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Hmm…If I were caught vandalizing some location in Japan, I’d probably be deported. Seems like a lucky slap on the wrist for a spoiled brat from here.
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No you wouldn’t. What are you talking about?
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Do you know that for sure? By comparison, I’m interested in what the penalty would be in Japan for vandalization of public property, whether by foreigners or Japanese.
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A fine, no more than 50,000 yen (save in Nara). I cannot imagine you would be deported.
http://www.47news.jp/CN/200406/CN2004062201001523.html
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Thank you Overthinker, for the link.
It’s interesting to know, though when I said that, I meant it somewhat sarcastically since I’ve read so many accounts of Japanese police supposedly harassing foreigners just for innocently riding down the street on their bikes. It made me wonder what they might do to one caught defacing public property.
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http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/racism-in-japan-%E4%BA%BA%E7%A8%AE%E5%B7%AE%E5%88%A5%E5%A4%A7%E5%9C%8B%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%EF%BC%9F
I think this is a balanced account of J police “harassing” foreigners.”
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I love it, and I absolutely agree!
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Yeah, in New York City and many other major cities there has been a boom in graffiti related incidents. In response, the pigs are really sticking it to artists/vandals and throwing some of the more prominent taggers in jail for months to years along with fines that need to be paid.
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If you’ve ever had to scrub graffiti off something, you’d think that the 2 days wasn’t long enough.
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And if it’s done on red brick there is no scrubbing it off, you have to get it sandblasted, and so that sandblasted area doesn’t stick out, you get the whole wall done. Yeah, 2 days is not nearly enough.
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This makes me want to dust off my Fantomas “Suspended Animation” album.
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He was kept in jail for more than just drawing on the wall. Probably started arguing with the police and started a scuffle.
Although, having seen graffiti in NYC, I personally think he was arrested for drawing that ugly ass picture with lame text. “Cool here”?
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his name is Yoshitomo, not Yoshimoto (in the headline). See the news blurb.
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I would pay money to have that piece of wall where he graffitied.
I freaking love his work
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“possession of graffiti instruments”, WTF? What are graffiti instruments anyway? I thought they use mostly cans of spray paint? Since when is the posession of those illegal?
“Looks, he’s got a lighter, that’s a marijuana instrument, arrest him!”
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Haha, the life of the artist! I could imagine him drawing that picture going “Oh Snap I got caught again!” and dashing for it.
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Pretty extreme. I can understand two days though. Yashitomo is my freaking idol! Did he have to pay a fee at all? Walls need more color on them, I think that two days was a bit much. Then again, it is better than having to clean the wall…
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