Shia LaBeouf arrested outside anti-Trump display
Fox411: Actor gets in a tussle at his NYC art exhibit
It didn’t take long for Shia LaBeouf’s anti-Trump art installation “He Will Not Divide Us,” to be vandalized at its new locale at the El Rey Theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The controversial installation was recently relocated to New Mexico's El Rey Theater after the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City shut it down, but on Monday, at around 4:20 a.m., the project, created by LaBeouf with his art collective Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner, was vandalized with red spray paint.
The theater's owner wasn't surprised to see someone go after the installation.
SHIA LABEOUF ARRESTED OUTSIDE NEW YORK MUSEUM
“It was obvious it was going to happen," El Rey Theatre owner Stephen Segura told Fox News. "There was a guy who showed up late and his intention was to get Shia out of Albuquerque. It’s a controversial piece."
The idea of the project is for people to read a statement — "he will not divide us” — into a 24-hour live-streaming camera mounted on a wall. On Monday, the masked man painted over the camera's lens.
The work opened in New York on President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, with the intention of remaining open until the end of Trump’s presidency.
But it was shut down by the Museum of Moving Image on Feb. 10 after the museum said its presence caused a "serious and ongoing public safety hazard."
The exhibit faced more trouble after LaBeouf was arrested on site for becoming aggressive with an attendee and then charged with assault on Jan. 25.
SHIA LABEOUF LEADS WITH 'WILL NOT DIVIDE US' ON INAUGURATION DAY
Segura told us locals in the community showed up at the exhibit to clean the paint off the camera.
Despite ongoing issues with LaBeouf's installation, Segura says he has no intention at this time to remove it.
“On the bright side as long as Shia and his team continue to maintain it, we’ll keep providing the space," he said. "Our biggest concern is not wanting to desensitize the artistic community in Albuquerque. We’re a community of artists; it’s bringing up a lot of conversation. Someone flashed nudity, and someone flashed a gun [at the camera], and it was promptly handled by police. We have plenty of cameras around the theater that people don’t notice, and if we see anything we’ll work as a community to stop it."
According to Segura, LaBeouf moved the exhibit to the El Rey Theater after it was shut down in New York because he had a connection to the area.
“He was familiar with the theater," Segura claimed. "He’s been in New Mexico filming 'Transformers,' and we stayed in touch."
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