Rather then allow graffiti artists to continue their tradition of making art on a pair of New York buildings a company has destroyed and rebuilt over the once famous graffiti spot.
5Pointz, a pair of buildings in Queens, was once a graffiti artists perfect destination. It was a huge canvas for artists to show off their work and for a long time was famous for its wide array of beautiful murals.
Now, the buildings have been completely destroyed and built over. Rather than allow the artists to save their graffiti or at least receive some form of compensation, G&M Realty company has simply erased and replaced it all. Now, 5Pointz is a luxury apartment complex. The artists work is sadly just a thing of the past.
To add more salt in the wound, the apartment complexes even have some half-assed replacement graffiti for “homage” to the pre-existing masterpieces. Perhaps this was with good intentions, but it falls very short of being sufficient compensation. The artists’ plea to keep their graffiti mecca was not listened to, their artwork was destroyed, and they have no reimbursement for their hard work. Instead, the artists walk away empty handed and have to see graffiti made by a realty company where theirs once stood.
This is another sad entry onto the list of the finance world bullying others. Hopefully these artists’ will rebel and find a new set of buildings to make as famous as 5Pointz once was.
