An artist's attempt to turn the exterior of Sotheby's into a piece of art by stringing masking tape across it Tuesday morning gained something other than artistic recognition--20 hours in jail, reports The New York Post.
Sam Bassett, who has turned the inside of the Hotel Chelsea and the length of 23rd street outside the famous auction house into art pieces using zig-zagging masking tape designs, said he climbed up a ledge of the Sotheby's building to represent the New York City art scene as investors came into the city for an auction
The auction featured contemporary artists and an Andy Warhol painting that sold for nearly $44 million.
"All the artists represented in the auction are dead, so this was a guerilla action to bridge the gap, a flag waving in the name of the new creative generation," said Bassett.
Too bad a security guard at Sotheby's didn't share the artist's vision. "I tried to explain this was a modern art project, but the security guard was convinced I was trying to break in and steal the Warhol print. So the cops took me to jail." A judge dropped the trespassing charge so the artist is free to string more monuments with masking tape in the name of the city's artistic future.
