Artist Takeshi Miyakawa Arrested After His Street Art Tribute to New York City Is Misinterpreted as a Bomb Scare

By EDW Lynch on May 21, 2012

Brooklyn-based artist Takeshi Miyakawa was arrested on Saturday while he was installing illuminated “I Love NY” shopping bags around New York City. Miyakawa intended the art installation to be his tribute to the city, instead the bags were reported to police as suspicious packages, resulting in the dispatch of the NYPD bomb squad. Miyakawa has been charged with planting “a false bomb or hazardous substance” among other crimes. He is now in jail pending a court-ordered psychological evaluation. Designboom has started a petition demanding the artist’s release.

via designboom