Street artists painted into a corner over artistic license

Art for sale

March 29, 1998
Web posted at: 9:35 p.m. EST (0235 GMT)

From Correspondent Gary Tuchman

NEW YORK (CNN) -- At New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, a daily battle of sorts is taking place between the police and street artists who peddle their wares outside.

The city's parks department says that because the area in front of the museum had become overcrowded with vendors, street artists must now enter a permit lottery for one of a limited number of slots.

But some artists, such as Robert Lederman, are resisting. Lederman has been arrested 29 times -- the last time for writing "Giuliani = Police State" on the sidewalk in chalk, a reference to the city's mayor.

CNN's Gary Tuchman reports 2 minute 15 second VXtreme video

"If I apply for that permit, I'm basically giving up my First Amendment rights, and that's what this issue is all about," he says. "We won a big lawsuit in 1996 in a federal court which said that artists don't need a license or permit to sell on public property."

City officials counter that they have the right to restrict artists in front of the museum because the area is actually part of Central Park, not a public street.

"Quite a number of artists have applied for permits for next month, and we hope that they will take the space that we've offered them and freely sell their wares in front of the Met," says Parks Commissioner Henry Stern.

Lederman

But the artists who are refusing to cooperate have decided to file a $200 million lawsuit against the city, saying their free speech rights are being violated.

Museum officials say they see both sides of the issue. But spokesman Harold Holzer notes "that the court case that the artists cite in fact recommended a lottery system, which is exactly what the parks department has asked to be imposed now."

The New York program is similar to a system in use in San Francisco for the past 25 years. There, it was implemented after artists complained of harassment while selling their works.

For the artists, being arrested time and again causes them to lose time and revenue. They have, in a sense, painted themselves into a corner, caught between their commerce and their philosophy.

But Lederman says he's willing to endure that conflict because to him, the battle over the First Amendment is more important.

Related site:

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• Welcome to The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Welcome to NYC LINK - The Official New York City World Wide Web Site
• NYC Parks: Welcome

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