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# Instagram Brags Land Artist in Jail
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/instagram-brags-land-artist-in-jail/
- Published: 2014-06-13T17:39:51.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:33:19.000Z
- Description: Graffiti writer Peter Podsiadlo, aka SEMP or @semp516 on Instagram, was arraigned on 23 felony counts of vandalism in Queens Criminal Court yesterday.
- Author: Hrag Vartanian
- Tags: In Brief, Art Crime, Graffiti, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![A view of some SEMP throw ups in Queens, NY (via flickr.com/contortyourself)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/06/4772868380_3274132fb2_z.jpg)

A view of some SEMP throw-ups in Queens (via contortyourself on Flickr)

Graffiti writer Peter Podsiadlo, aka SEMP or @semp516 on Instagram, was arraigned on 23 felony counts of vandalism in Queens Criminal Court yesterday, reports the [*New York Post*](http://nypost.com/2014/06/12/notorious-graffiti-artist-busted-after-posting-tags-on-instagram/?ref=hyperallergic.com). 

The artist’s bragging on Instagram — the account has since been deleted — attracted the attention of the NYPD’s vandal squad, which had been monitoring the writer’s online activity after he was arrested back in March for possessing graffiti instruments.

A source told the *Post* that Podsiadlo is “one of the more prodigious taggers in the city … This guy was asking for it, advertising it so blatantly online.”

The newspaper reports that there’s been a 15% increase in graffiti-related complaints in New York this year, while graffiti-related arrests have jumped 11% in the same period.