East Hampton moves to sue The Ranch over giant sculpture

The East Hampton Town Board voted 4-1 at its July 7 work session to authorize legal action against the owners of The Ranch, a Montauk art gallery, over a 60-foot sculpture assembled from decommissioned shipping containers.

The resolution permits the town attorney's office to pursue litigation against the owners of the property at 8 Old Montauk Highway. Councilman Tom Flight cast the only vote against it, the video recording of the board meeting shows.

"It's a resolution authorizing the commencement of legal action against owners of The Ranch," Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said in introducing the measure.

The sculpture is Meditating Figure, a 2026 work by Los Angeles artist Matt Johnson built from 12 retired shipping containers stacked into a cross-legged figure seated in the lotus position. The gallery announced the work on Instagram, writing that the containers had "traveled over 12 million miles on seas" and that the figure's "head towers 60 ft into the Montauk sky."

The gallery's post described the sculpture as "a deity built by capital and consumption; a reality of the daily contemporary experience."

The town has brought four charges against The Ranch over the piece: violation of a conservation easement, failure to obtain a building permit, failure to obtain Architectural Review Board approval and failure to obtain a certificate of occupancy, the East Hampton Press reported.

Flight told the board he objected to the town regulating an artwork on private land.

"Again, this one I just have slight issues with. This is a public work of art. We don't have a lot of guidance as to, like, when are we restricting art being displayed," Flight said. "I appreciate that this is an exceptionally large piece, but to deny people the ability to exhibit art is not something I personally support."

Town Attorney Jake Turner said the sculpture is subject to code enforcement regardless of its status as art.

"By definition, this is a structure. They're welding large pieces of metal together. It needs to go through the Building Department for applicable safety standard checks," Turner said. "If we don't take action, then we are compromising the safety of the residents."

Flight pressed Turner on whether the requirement applied to private property without public access.

"So if I display art in my backyard that's welded together, is that illegal?" Flight asked.

"If it's a structure, then yes — and you don't have the building permit," Turner said. "It's not a matter of what is being displayed, it is a matter of how it is being displayed. You need to go through the proper channels and make sure it's legal."

Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte said the sculpture's placement on the property might also be at issue. Turner agreed, saying it "could be within one of the easements, which does not allow it to be there."

Burke-Gonzalez said the authorization does not commit the town to filing suit.

"This doesn't mean we're automatically going to court. This is, you know, a tool," Burke-Gonzalez said.

"Hopefully we'll start with a conversation and get compliance," she said before calling a roll-call vote.

The Ranch is owned by art dealer Max Levai, who bought the property in 2020 and converted one of its two horse barns into an exhibition space. Most of the surrounding pastureland is an agricultural reserve, and the town purchased development rights to it in the early 2000s.

The vote is the town's second move against the gallery. In 2023, officials weighed separate litigation over what they described as a commercial gallery operating on agricultural land after The Ranch ignored repeated notifications and citations.

The sculpture has drawn derision from some locals online.

"It looks like a garbage dump," one commenter wrote on the East Hampton Press’ Facebook post about the work.

Another wrote, "It looks more like a train wreck.”

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