WHY SIDI IS IN JAIL
In the beginning of May, 23-year-old street artist Sidi Abdul-Khaaliq, also known as "leghead loves" or "colorpaintmuseum" was arrested by the New York City police for second-degree robbery. Sidi is accused of taking 3 pastels from Utrecht, an art supply store on Lafayette and Howard.
Further allegations are that the clerk was pushed aside by Sidi on his way out of the store. That’s the prosecution’s justification for taking what would be a petty theft and turning it into a very serious second-degree robbery charge.
Either way, Sidi now has to deal with these allegations in jail. And they are so serious that they can potentially turn into a 15-year-long prison sentence.
WHY SIDI NEEDS TO MAKE BAIL
Sidi's bail is set at $7.500.
Statistically and realistically Sidi has much better chances of fighting the case from the outside than from behind bars. But just like many other people that are incarcerated and poor, Sidi can't afford his bail.
Most of the times cases like these can take a very long time to make it to court. Often people are already incarcerated for hundreds of days.
That’s time Sidi could spend on preparing his defense and to prove his innocence instead of sitting and trying to deal with the brutal reality he's faced with in jail. That horror makes people that are incarcerated more willing to take plea deals because all they want is to escape from it.
Sidi is currently using his time in jail to create art and eventually raise enough funds to make his bail.
Sidi's Bailart is a limited series of original works available for $150 each until the full amount for bail is reached.
The artist is famous for his Basquiat-ish hair and color drenched clothes.
Most people know Sidi from selling his art on the streets of Soho.
Wearing legs on his head, he is formerly known as "legheadloves".