Artist SinGh to sue after entry trashed

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - An ArtPrize artist says he plans to file a lawsuit after a venue's owner threw his 2012 entry in the trash.

"I have finally decided to take legal action against Greg Gilmore and Art prize organizers for suppressing the freedom of expression, destruction and vandalism of my personal property, failure to abide by the contract between the artist and the venue. And expulsion from ArtPrize contest without a legitimate reasons," Artist SinGh said in a statement Thursday morning.

"Captivity" was a hanging effigy of Saddam Hussein in a bird cage located outside The B.O.B. in downtown Grand Rapids. The display contained writings about rape, bestiality and suicide, and would have included several sculptures that would have changed daily, according to SinGh's website.

Gilmore, the owner of The B.O.B., received complaints and then sent an email to SinGh, "to remove your artwork immediately and have one day in which to get it out of the parking lot. Your display is very disturbing and in no way acceptable to be displayed at The B.O.B. If it is not removed within one day we will have it removed!"

Gilmore told 24 Hour News 8 he was angry at what he saw as a betrayal of trust between the venue and SinGh, and later threw the effigy in the trash.

"I was infuriated," Gilmore told 24 Hour News 8 last month. "He took advantage of us. And we trusted him after the last several years and the art that he brought, that it would be tasteful, and it was anything but."

"It's a concept I wanted to present, and it's not something that I am inventing. It's there, it's out there," SinGh told 24 Hour News 8 in September. "Why should an artist [have] to first get permission what he should paint and what he should sculpt?"

SinGh said The B.O.B. organizers never asked him for specifics about his piece.

"I told them it was going to be installation art, and no questions were raised," SinGh said. "So I really didn't have to tell anything."

He said he was told he was welcome and everything was okay.

SinGh said he was upset his work had been thrown out.

"First, he [Gilmore] took Saddam down and threw it in the dumpster and then he demolished my bird cage without any prior warming before the ArtPrize ended. It has been witnessed that Mr. Greg used Saddam Hussein in his own bar promoting his own ArtPrize entry and denied any opportunity for me to come back in the contest," SinGh continued in his latest statement.

SinGh later burned the remaining parts of "Captivity" in protest.

Also in his latest statement, SinGh said, "I am going collect my art work from Mr. Gilmore at 7 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012. This exchange will take place at the BOB in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

"I want the media to be present to witness this exchange because I have been receiving threatening notes and emails regarding my ArtPrize entry. Saddam will be transported in a coffin back to Kalamazoo where it will have a new home in my gallery."