Artist Faces Bomb Charges After 'I Love New York' Work Causes Scare

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – A Brooklyn artist setting up a public display featuring an "I Love New York'' theme was arrested after someone called the bomb squad over the weekend.

The caller reported a suspicious package attached to a tree early Saturday.

Police found 50-year-old Takeshi Miyakawa around 2 a.m. standing on a ladder with a plastic box, wires, a plastic bag and a battery. The bags stamped with an "I heart NY'' logo were to be attached to trees and lampposts and illuminated with LED lights.

1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reports

The temporary art installation was intended to celebrate NY Design Week.

Miyakawa was arraigned Sunday on charges of reckless endangerment and placing "a false bomb or hazardous substance.''

Judge Martin Murphy ordered Miyakawa to be held for a month-long psychiatric evaluation.

Renowned architect Rafael Vinoly, who has known Miyakawa for 20 years, insists the artist is sane.

"He's an unbelievably talented man but also a person with an extraordinary sense of kindness," Vinoly, who submitted a letter to the court on Myakawa's behalf, said. "He's not the kind of person you would suspect of having a psychological imbalance."

Defense attorney Deborah J. Blum has asked for an expedited hearing to get Miyakawa out of Rikers Island.

Blum has called the arrest a "gross misunderstanding."

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