NEW YORK (Reuters) – An artist arrested for applying body paint to a nude model in New York’s Times Square will have charges against him dropped if his models strip naked only after dark, according to a court agreement reached on Thursday.
Police arrested Andy Golub, 45, in July and charged him with violating public exposure and lewdness laws. He has been painting nude models for about three years.
Golub’s lawyer, Ronald Kuby, argued that New York laws do not prohibit public nudity in the name of art, and a compromise was reached that was the basis of the court ruling.
Under the agreement, “he is permitted to paint bare breasts any time, anywhere, but the G-strings have to stay on until daylight goes out,” Kuby said after a hearing in Manhattan criminal court.
State laws against public exposure exempt “any person entertaining or performing in a play, exhibition, show or entertainment,” Kuby said. Municipalities are allowed to devise their own restrictions, but New York City generally does not do so, Kuby said.
Golub, of Nyack, New York, said he likes to paint nude models because their bodies have energy and dynamism that he finds lacking in canvas.
“I feel that when I do live body painting it’s a good thing, a positive thing,” he said.
Charges against Golub will be dropped in six months if he abides by the terms of the agreement and is not arrested again. Charges against Karla Storie, a model from Texas arrested with him, will be dismissed if she too is not arrested again in the next six months.
Golub said he was planning to return to criminal court on Friday and paint a nude model in a park near the courthouse.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Jerry Norton)
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