Manhattan Landlord Sues Kehinde Wiley, Claiming He Owes $36,000 in Unpaid Rent

Artist Kehinde Wiley returned to the New York art scene last week with his first show in the city since he was accused of sexual assault in 2024. Now the famed artist and Obama portraitist faces a legal dispute of a different kind: real estate.

In a complaint filed in New York County Supreme Court, 115 West 11th Street LLC accuses Wiley of failing to pay rent on his apartment in its building since October 1. According to court documents filed November 6, the rent is $18,000 a month, and the landlord is seeking $36,000 in total.

Per the documents, Wiley has lived in the building since September 2023 and signed a lease renewal in July 2025, which was later extended through the end of September. The landlord contends that Wiley did not vacate the apartment when the lease ended and has continued to live there without paying the agreed $18,000 a month.

Wiley has not yet responded to the complaint. A summons, also filed November 6, requires the artist’s attorneys to respond within 20 days.

The complaint was filed on the same day Wiley’s new exhibition, “What the Light Becomes,” opened at Sean Kelly Gallery in New York. The show features a new series of portraits of contemporary New Yorkers. According to the exhibition text, the show is “conceived of as a love letter to New York and a return to the subject of the city that launched Wiley’s career.”

Sean Kelly Gallery did not respond to a request for comment from ARTnews by press time.

Wiley is one of the art world’s brightest stars and one of the few artists who are household names, thanks to his beloved official portrait of President Barack Obama. He has been tied up in the courts since 2024, when five people accused him of sexual assault or rape. Wiley has denied the allegations. He has said that his encounters with some of the accusers were consensual and that he did not know others. Only one accuser, Ogechi Chieke, has sued the artist, and that case is ongoing.

In a New York Times profile published last week, Wiley said of the allegations, “I’ve been through more pain—it’s really hard to imagine what it’s like to have people believe that. To look at you and think you’re a predator.” He added, “In my life, there has always been, by hook or by crook, some sense of grace that comes out of even the most challenging situations.”

Jennifer Barrett of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Wiley’s attorney in the Chieke lawsuit, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

The Daily Mail first reported the new lawsuit on Wednesday.

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