Kehinde Wiley Sued by Manhattan Landlord Over $36,000 in Unpaid Rent

A Manhattan landlord is suing Kehinde Wiley for $36,000 in unpaid rent, according to a complaint filed November 6 in New York County Supreme Court. The suit landed on the same day the Obama portraitist opened his first New York exhibition since sexual assault allegations surfaced against him in 2024.

The plaintiff, 115 West 11th Street LLC, accuses Wiley of failing to pay rent on his apartment since October 1. Court documents put the monthly rent at $18,000.

The complaint lays out a precise timeline:

• Wiley has lived in the building since September 2023.
• He signed a lease renewal in July 2025.
• That renewal was extended through the end of September.
• The landlord contends 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 his attorneys to respond within 20 days. Jennifer Barrett of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Wiley's attorney in a separate ongoing lawsuit, did not respond to a request for comment by press time. The Daily Mail first reported the new lawsuit on Wednesday.

What does the case mean for Wiley's comeback?

The rent dispute arrives at a delicate moment. Wiley returned to the New York art scene last week with "What the Light Becomes," his first show in the city since the 2024 accusations, at Sean Kelly Gallery. The exhibition 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 remains one of the few contemporary artists who is a household name, a status built largely on his official portrait of President Barack Obama. But 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.

What has Wiley said publicly?

In a New York Times profile published last week, timed to the exhibition's opening, Wiley addressed the allegations directly. "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 said.

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."

The landlord dispute is a narrower matter, but it adds a second legal front for an artist attempting a public reentry. With a 20-day deadline to answer the summons, and the Chieke litigation still active, Wiley's attempted return to the city that made his career now unfolds under two court dockets at once.