Make New York Post a Preferred Source An Instagram-famous artist was busted while painting a tribute to a murdered Bronx teen– leaving behind his unfinished mural of brains being washed, chained heads and bullet-shaped birthday candles.
David Miklatski, 37 — a California-based artist who goes by the moniker David Sabastian and has more than 460,000 Instagram followers — was arrested Wednesday while working on the mural on the side of Mision de Dios church in Third Avenue near East 171st Street in The Bronx, according to police.
The mural was intended to honor Javits Frimpong, the 15-year-old Ghanaian immigrant fatally shot in the stomach by still-at-large suspects while walking to school near the church Oct. 29.
But the artist’s black-and-white vision — which included black men with chains and padlocks around their heads — angered some community member who said the grieving neighborhood needed a portrait, not a provocative statement.
“We’re still in the mourning, and someone’s stupidly come here and put this thing up. This is ridiculous,” said Benjamin Richardson, 40.
“It should be a picture of the boy,” he said.
Miklatski said he learned of Frimpong’s killing while in New York City for a stunt to post his own art on the wall at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He said he reached out to the teen’s family, who told him they liked the idea of a mural near the scene.
The boy’s uncle, Mohamed Doumouaian, confirmed to The Post the family wanted the mural, even with the controversial content.
Miklatski said he wanted to create something beyond a conventional tribute.
“What I wanted to do with this mural was really speak to the mentality of the people who are committing these atrocious crimes, speak to the ‘hood directly,” he said.
The unfinished work includes a chessboard with pawns, a washing machine containing brains and a portrait of Frimpong above a birthday cake with bullets for candles.
Miklatski said the haunting imagery represents people being brainwashed, used as pawns and mentally shackled — and insisted his painting wasn’t meant to be political.
“This is more of a humanity thing,” he said. “More of a spiritual thing.”
But the pastor of the church Miklatski painted on did not give him permission for the work, an unnamed maintenance worker told The Post, who said he was the one who called the cops on Miklatski mid-paint.
“I told the pastor, and he said, ‘No, this is a private building,’ ” the worker said.
Officers responded around 10:30 a.m., arrested Miklatski and charged him with making graffiti and possession of a graffiti instrument, cops said.
View this post on Instagram “I just think it’s crazy that they showed up in 5 minutes as I’m just drawing on a wall and trying to memorialize this whole thing,” Miklatski said.
The unfinished mural was still there Friday, with a passer-by saying, “I like it.
“Permission or no permission, it’s just sad that a little kid died and all this is happening,” he added.
