Artist Sneaks His Work Into the Met Museum
David Mitlaski says his oil pastel painting of the Met Gala captures “A-list celebrities prancing, while the world outside the museum gates is collapsing.”
In a world where museum break-ins have been making headlines, a Los Angeles artist has taken a different approach by adding his own artwork to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. David (Sabastian) Miklatski posted a video on Instagram detailing how he secretly installed a drawing on one of the museum's gallery walls on October 25.
The piece, titled "The MET 2027," is an oil pastel painting that shows a Met Gala attendee climbing the staircase surrounded by shrubs and photojournalists, while a chaotic scene unfolds in the background with protestors being attacked by police and mining conditions in the Congo. The artist said he used a stroller, a portable speaker, and a free audio file from a lesbian porn video to distract security officers and install the painting without being noticed.
The wall text for the artwork lists the artist's birth year as 1777, while the artwork itself is dated 2026. Miklatski expressed his frustration with the gap between extreme opulence and poverty, urging viewers to question the institutions that fail to see the connection between wealth and suffering. The artwork was taken down from the museum's wall on the same day it was installed, and Miklatski stated that he does not want it back.
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