Police remove naked performance artist from former Columbus statue pedestal at Inner Harbor

A naked man momentarily stood where the Christopher Columbus statue used to be near the Inner Harbor on Saturday morning.

But, like his predecessor, he was taken down from the pedestal.

A man posing as the Statue of David in full nudity stood atop the empty stand Saturday morning for nearly three hours, allowing others to bask in his chiseled beauty. A few feet below him, papers and drawing utensils lay on the ground, a gesture to welcome artists who wanted to sketch him.

Onlookers said firefighters used a cherry picker to pull him off of the mount, almost like a claw machine extracting a toy. He was resistant and unwilling to put his pants on when police tried to lift his legs to do so.

Bystanders could be heard yelling to officers when they finally carried him into a police van. “Get his legs; that’s right; get him by the arms.”

The man was transported to a hospital to be evaluated because officers believed he was having a mental health crisis, said Detective Niki Fennoy, a spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department. He was identified as a 26-year-old man, but Fennoy did not provide his name.

Michelle Lach, 64, a nearby resident who saw the man from her window, said she recognized him as the performance artist who goes by “Ham.”

“He’s done work in Philly and also New York,” Lach said. “At first he started with having clothes and sunglasses, and he’s eventually moved to the performance being completely naked.”

He was holding an umbrella, she added, because he was hoping he could do this for 24 hours and wanted to have shade.

“This is like classic, beautiful art,” she said of the man posing.

There was a large police response to the performance artist. Police vehicles lined President Street and were parked near the statue platform, according to one bystander.

Some people passing by wondered if his performance was meant to be a protest, but it wasn’t clear.

Baltimore Police foiled his Fourth of July plans hours after he began, ending his performance around 9:30 a.m.

This article has been updated.