Edward Snowden is free!
A bust of the notorious NSA leaker that was seized from a Brooklyn park has been returned to the artists, their lawyer said.
Ron Kuby said the 4-foot, 100-pound bust was retrieved from the Queens property clerk’s office on Wednesday morning.
The bronze bust had been surreptitiously placed on a column in Fort Greene Park last month and was quickly removed by Parks Department employees. It has been in city custody until Wednesday.
Kuby said two of the artists who created the sculpture were each assessed a $50 fine by the city, “which will be promptly paid.”
Kuby said the sculpture was in fine condition, and the city didn’t try to sock his clients with extra towing or storage fees.
“We appreciate the city’s commitment to supporting the arts, even art that’s impromptu and controversial,” he said.
He declined to identify his clients, who are part of an art collective.
“Unlike most people in today’s celebrity culture, they would prefer to remain anonymous,” he said — and they want to “let the art speak for itself.”
The piece had been placed on a column in the park’s Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, which honors 11,000 prisoners of war killed on East River prison ships during the Revolutionary War.
“Those were people who were billed as traitors by the British who we now revere as patriots,” Kuby said.
The bust of the 31-year-old Snowden — who’s been holed up in Russia to avoid criminal charges against him in the U.S. — was entitled “Prison Ship Martyrs 2.0” in order “to stimulate a conversation,” Kuby said.
He said his clients are now applying to have the artwork displayed as part of the city’s “Arts in the Parks” program.
“This time they’re dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s,” Kuby said.
