Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Artist Accused of Planting Fake Bombs Celebrates Freedom with Open Studio

By Meredith Hoffman | August 2, 2012 5:17pm

GREENPOINT — The artist who was accused of planting fake bombs in the form of "I Love NY" plastic bags this spring has been released from jail with all charges dropped if he follows the law for the next six months — and to celebrate, he's throwing a party.

Takeshi Miyakawa, a renowned furniture designer whose plastic bag installations caused a bomb scare that shut down Bedford Avenue in May, is holding an open studio at his work space on  Manhattan Avenue Friday night "till all the beer is gone."

"Now I feel relieved that this issue has been resolved and I don't have to go to court anymore," he said in his email announcing the party. "All that's left is for me to stay out of trouble for six months!!"

Miyakawa must complete 10 days of community service, according to the Brooklyn Criminal Court ruling that the case was adjourned contemplating dismissal, or dropped if he remains in good standing.

When he was arrested Miyakawa claimed he was hanging the lights as an artistic display to coincide with his current 40-foot light installation at NY Design Week in Manhattan's Javitz Center, his lawyer Deborah Blum said.

She said Miyaka, a contemporary furniture designer, studied engineering and architecture in his home country in Japan, and that he has been in the United States the past 23 years.

"He was simply saying 'I love New York' with his signs...he was promoting New York Design Week and sharing his feelings about the city," said Louis Lim, 26, a young designer who works in Miyakawa's studio and called the seasoned artist his "mentor."

"We had no idea it was seen as a bomb scare," said Lim in May of the installation on Bedford that caused the street closure. "If Takeshi had known that he would have stopped...if he does something that upsets someone, he apologizes. He's traditional Japanese in that way."

Miyakawa's open studio party starts at 7 p.m. Friday on 1205 Manhattan Avenue.