Arboleda wrote "The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama," in white stenciled letters on the front window.
NYPD officers and Secret Service agents quickly shut down the exhibition.
Arboleda, who said the exhibit is "art," was taken to the Midtown South police precinct for questioning. While the title is certainly suggestive, the 27-year-old artist says it has nothing to do with violence.
Once authorities determined Arboleda wasn't a danger to the powerful Democrats, he was released.
The exhibition was to open on Thursday and run all day.
Arboleda has even set up elaborate Web sites, one for Mrs. Clinton and one for Mr. Obama, that purported to be for exhibitions held earlier this year at galleries in Chelsea. (In fact, there were no such exhibitions and the galleries, the Leah Keller Gallery and the Naomi Gates Gallery, are evidently fictitious.)
Arboleda's Web site says he was born in Boston and lives in New York City.
He holds a Master's degree in architecture and has been trained in photography, painting, fashion design and graphic design. His first solo show, "The New Vitruvians," was presented at Issey Miyake Tribeca in 2007.
