Poster Boy, whose identity had been shrouded in secrecy to evade the NYPD, was picked up by plain clothes policemen after his presence at the event was brazenly advertised on a flyer.

Police had been trying to find Poster Boy, whose "scratchiti" style of graffitti is scrawled across the city's subway system, for months.

Scratchiti involves etching logos onto glass or plastic with a razor blade, but Poster Boy has elevated the practice to an art form.

He realised uses advertisments at subway stations as giant stickers, which can be cut up into bits and remodelled. His artworks often contain an anti-consumerist message, with one recent poster of Usain Bolt promoting Puma shoes altered to advertise McDonalds, with the slogan "McDorse the world".

And he is prolific, creating 400 pieces on one year and earning a large following.

However, he is not popular with the city's police, who take a tough stance on vandalism. The NYPD proudly announced they had arrested a 27-year-old from Bushwick, Brooklyn and promptly placed him on Rikers Island, the Guardian reports..

He was later released on bail put up by friends.

He was named as Henry Matyjewicz, although rumours persist that Poster Boy is actually a collective of artists, rather than one man.