Kehinde Wiley Sued by Landlord Over Unpaid Rent

The painter Kehinde Wiley is being sued by his landlord over unpaid rent. The complaint was filed in New York County Supreme Court, the main trial court for Manhattan. ARTnews first reported the case in detail.

The landlord, 115 West 11th Street LLC, says Wiley has not paid rent since October 1. The monthly rent at issue is US$18,000. The landlord is seeking US$36,000 in total unpaid rent.

Wiley has lived in the building since September 2023. He signed a lease renewal in July 2025, and that lease was later extended through the end of September. The landlord contends that Wiley did not move out when the lease ended. According to the landlord, he kept living in the apartment without paying.

The court papers were filed on November 6. A summons in the case requires Wiley's attorneys to respond within 20 days. His lawyer is Jennifer Barrett of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a law firm.

The filing came on the same day Wiley's exhibition "What the Light Becomes" opened at Sean Kelly Gallery in New York. The gallery is one of the city's well-known commercial art spaces, where artists' works are shown and sold. The Daily Mail was the first outlet to report the lawsuit, on Wednesday.

A complaint is one side's account of a dispute, and it is the first step in a civil case. The claims in the landlord's filing have not been decided by a court. Wiley's response to the summons will set out his side of the matter.

For anyone following the New York art world, the case is a rent dispute, not an art-market story. It is about a home, a lease and a bill that the landlord says has gone unpaid for more than a month and a half.