Rest in Paint 5 Pointz

All Queens residents can agree on at least one thing: a collective hate for the 7 Flushing Line train. This line seems to exacerbate every issue New Yorker's have with the MTA. But for me, it had its saving grace. As the 7 train headed towards Manhattan it would turn a bend into Hunters Point Avenue station. It was here that a marvelous explosion of color would reveal itself to give riders a visual treat. You couldn't miss it or not experience some sort of feeling as 5 Pointz revealed itself.

5 Pointz, LIC 2013 || Photo by Katherine Gomez

5 Pointz was considered "The Graffiti Mecca" in NYC. Artists from around the world, as well as local talent, would come to showcase their work.  All this would end over night, without warning on November 19, 2013.

5 Pointz, LIC 2013 || Photo by Katherine Gomez

On a sunny March 9th in 2013, I had the pleasure of meeting Jonathan Cohen, who since early 2000 would become the self-proclaimed curator of 5 Pointz. Jonathan is also a graffiti artist who goes by the name of Meres. I met him as he was overseeing a mural that was going up. He supervised it with the same care, respect and dedication a curator at The Met would implement with a Van Gogh. This same level of dedication was used on every single piece that went up on his walls. When lesser known artists would reach out to him to do a piece, he would request detailed layouts of the art work to make sure they would meet his standards.

He was kind enough to give me a tour of 5 Pointz and, as we walked, he spoke of his plans for  the dilapidated factory building. He imagined a graffiti museum with communal and, most importantly, fairly priced artist studio space. He spoke about his desire to have after school programs for kids to learn the art of graffiti. All these novel ideas would never materialize, which brings me to the villain of the story.

5 Pointz, LIC 2013 || Photo by Katherine Gomez 
Second from left:  Jonathan Cohen (Meres)

The dilapidated factory building had been purchased in the '70's by Jerry Wolkoff, who back then had no intentions of developing the site. Of course not, not back then. In the 70's Long Island City was not rebranding itself to be known as LIC, and thus with a cool new name attract all the hip, affluent cool kids and pray and hope to be the next Williamsburg. By this time LIC was catering to a different demographic. It was no longer profitable for Mr. Wolkoff to lease the space to Meres and the other aerosol artists who had divided the factory to be used as studio space.

Wolkoff's vision for the space was more of the steel and glass now prominent in the LIC area, void of any character or life, but I digress. This space would now be home to 2 high-rise towers and 800 luxury rentals. According to Mr. Wolkoff, there would also be 200 affordable rent apartments, but as we know, in NYC "affordable" is a relative term. It was reported that his plans for the space were to build 5 times what was allowed on the lot and 60% of the apartments would be 1 bedrooms; no room for families in Mr. Wolkoff's plans.

Soon after Mr. Wolkoff and his son David Wolkoff announced their plans for the lot, a firestorm of public outrage launched via social media with the hashtag #save5pointz. At this time, Meres was hard at work with the other artists who also used the space as their studios. They were attempting to file a law suit to prevent the demolition by way of landmarking the property. That unfortunately was a futile effort; after all, Mr. Wilkoff was the owner of the property. On November 19, 2013, a federal judge and the Landmark Preservation Commission dismissed the lawsuit and permitted the Wolkoff's to do as they pleased with the property. And that is exactly what they did. Like most reprehensible acts, they waited for nightfall, brought in a painting crew and white washed the entire facade of the building.

Since the building has been demolished, few, if any, signs of art are left. The vibrancy of the area erased in one night by many buckets of white paint. I remember Meres posting a sad picture of his beloved temple whitewashed and under it the caption"An art crime has taken place," and I wholeheartedly believe he was right. It must have been a crime, because I certainly felt that morning, when I learned what happened, like I had lost something very dear to me.