They just didn’t get his art.
A Japanese furniture designer was released from jail today after his art installation featuring plastic “I Love NY” bags caused a bomb scare and got him arrested and locked up over the weekend .
“I am not sure they understood what it is,” said a beaming Takeshi Miyakawa, who was locked up last Saturday. “They understood it’s not a bomb at least.”
The 50-year-old designer, who works for prominent Manhattan architect Rafael Vinoly, was charged with reckless endangerment for planting false bombs in illuminated plastic bags and ordered held for a mental examination.
But Brooklyn Justice William Garnett agreed to release Miyakawa, who will now undergo a mental examination in an outpatient facility. He is still charged with reckless endangerment and placing a false bomb.
“I feel great,” said Miyakawa, who hugged dozens of supporters who packed a courtroom to hear his lawyer argue for his release.
“I just wanted to bring a piece of art to the street,” he said.
Cops arrested Miyakawa early Saturday for hanging one of the illuminated “I Love NY” bags from a lamppost near McCarren Park in Williamsburg. A day earlier, cops had received a 911 call about a suspicious package attached to a tree on Bedford Avenue
“I was in shock,” said the designer, who has a studio in Greenpoint. “But I was more in shock that people in Williamsburg were evacuated for two hours.
“I’m really shocked by that and I apologize.”