On February 28 , 1974 , Shafrazi spray-painted Picasso 's painting '' Guernica '' , which hung in the Museum of Modern Art , with the words " KILL LIES ALL " in foot-high letters . When a guard finally grabbed him , Shafrazi shouted , " Call the curator . I am an artist . " The paint was easily removed as the painting was heavily varnished . It is believed that Shafrazi was protesting the announcement , the day before , of the release on bail of U.S. lieutenant William Calley . Calley , then under house arrest following his conviction , in 1971 , for his part in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam , had petitioned for habeas corpus ; he had initially been sentenced to life imprisonment . Although his appeal was overturned in June , he was finally released from U.S. Army custody later in the year after having received a limited pardon from Richard Nixon . Shafrazi was a member of the Art Workers ' Coalition , which in 1970 had staged a protest at MoMA by unfurling a copy of the famous My Lai protest poster '' And babies '' in front of the '' Guernica '' painting , which itself depicts the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon innocent civilians . Shafrazi was later given five years ' probation , without a trial
My Lai massacre
My Lai Massacre
Tony Shafrazi