The iconic 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center in Long Island City, Queens, known as the graffiti mecca, was whitewashed overnight on Tuesday. But pieces of tags still peek through the white paint, showing remains of the street art that covered the building for the past decade. Many gathered throughout the days following the demolition to pay respect to the 5Pointz community, and to commemorate the space.
The origin of this art space roots back to a non-profit organization called Phun Phactory, which was founded in 1992 by Pat DiLillo. DiLillo opened the 200,000 square foot water meter factory in 1993 to graffiti artists to showcase their tags legally. It was soon renamed 5Pointz, which refers to the five boroughs of New York coming together for art.
The curator of 5Pointz, Jonathan Cohen, was planning on converting the warehouse into a graffiti museum and a school for young graffiti artists. Cohen sought a 501(c)3 certification to enable tax-exempt status and to receive tax-deductible donations. Jerry Wolkoff and his son, David Wolkoff, own the building and rented it out to artists as studio space until 2009.
The Wolkoffs originally planned to demolish 5Pointz and replace it with two 30-story apartment buildings and a luxury shopping mall. But this past July, Community Board 2 and Chairman Joseph Conley voted against the plans because of the lack of below-market-rate housing and substantial artist studios.
To bypass the community board’s opposition, the Wolkoffs won a zoning variance so they can build the two high-rise apartment buildings with amenities such as indoor rock climbing, a simulated golf course, and barbeque areas, according to the New York Daily News.
Conley promises 1,000 apartments total, 20 affordable loft spaces for local artists, and a rear wall designated for graffiti. Jerry Wolkoff, now 74, told The New York Times in a phone interview that the building needs a multitude of repairs and will have to be torn down regardless. Until then, visitors celebrate this cultural landmark by writing messages and creating new art on the ≈.
Shea Carmen Swan is a junior at Lang, majoring in Journalism + Design, minoring in Gender Studies. With 4 semesters of Free Press under her belt, she enjoys writing all things LGBTQIA and currently writes for Posture Magazine, a queer arts publication. Kyriacrchy.wordpress.com & Soilscript.wordpress.com host most of her literary work.
Greate article. Keep writing such kind of information on your blog.
Im really impressed by your site.
Hello there, You have performed an incredible job.
I’ll definitely digg it and individually suggest to my friends.
I’m sure they’ll be benefited from this
web site.
Definitely believe that which you said. Your favorite
reason seemed to be on the web the simplest thing to be aware of.
I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people think about worries
that they plainly don’t know about. You managed to hit the
nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people can take a signal.
Will probably be back to get more. Thanks
I am sure this article has touched all the internet people,
its really really nice post on building up new website.
Hello to every , as I am in fact eager of reading this
blog’s post to be updated regularly. It includes pleasant material.