Artist Yazmany Arboleda was working Wednesday morning to open an installation piece called "The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama." But before the exhibition opened, police officers and Secret Service agents descended upon Arboleda's makeshift gallery in New York City. Building workers covered the exterior windows with blue masking tape and brown paper.
Arboleda, 27, was taken in for questioning but was not charged, police said. He returned to the makeshift gallery about two hours later to find himself in the middle of a media flurry. Arboleda said the controversial exhibition was not meant to threaten either of the presidential candidates. ''This show is about character assassination,'' he said. "It's about how the media has destroyed who these two people really are. There are no weapons, no blood. Nothing about the work is threatening.''
Arboleda, who grew up in South Florida, said his efforts to stage the work have had problems since he unveiled it first in March. He said galleries came under intense pressure from the presidential campaigns and it closed within a week. This time, Arboleda rented a vacant space in Manhattan, and planned to show his work beginning Thursday. He hadn't moved the pieces into the space yet, but had hung two red- and black-lettered signs in the window with the work's name when the police showed up.
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