Exclusive | NYCs famed Hotel Chelsea tries to evict artist whose paintings line its own walls: Very cruel

The city’s famed bohemian Hotel Chelsea is trying to boot a longtime artist resident whose wildly colorful work lines its own hallways, but he’s fighting back on social media — and winning loads of support.Gerald DeCock, 67, recently publicized his plight online to try to boost his bid to stay in his gold-leaf and glow-in-the-dark star-adorned studio apartment, whose last tenant was Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis in 1994, the resident said.“I don’t want money.I’m not asking for a buyout.

I just want to stay here.I don’t want to disrupt my life,’’ the Colorado native recently told The Post.The artist and hairdresser said he has been paying $2,700 a month for nearly 20 years for his 10th-floor apartment at the eccentric Manhattan haven-for-the-arts — frequented over the years by the likes of Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol and even Mark Twain.Rooms currently start at $650 a night for guests.He said his battle with the hotel’s owners over his home and work space began in 2007, the last year they accepted long-term leases and about 10 years into his time there.DeCock has since lost five court cases trying to prove his apartment should be rent-stabilized and that his rent should have consistently been closer to the monthly $600 that a previous tenant paid before him.Yet even after the resident’s last court loss in 2025, the owners of SIR Chelsea LLC bought 21 of his metallic and abstract paintings — which run from about $60 to $300 a pop, depending on size — to line the hotel’s historic walls.Then they handed him an eviction notice.“In retrospect, I feel like it was maybe strategic,’’ said DeCock, who told the New York Times that he earned about $70,000 last year cutting hair and selling his artwork.“They treat me like a moron.“They’re kicking me out because I’m in a vulnerable spot.

If you go to the Chelsea Hotel website, the first page is like how they are a patron to the arts.This is bulls–t,” DeCock said.“I�...