5 Pointz courtyard

Diogenes seeking an honest man

Last night, under cover of darkness, the owner of the warehouse that served as New York City’s unofficial museum of graffiti for years brought in a team of painters who covered all of the art with whitewash. The artists awoke to find their work gone. For an interesting and provocative article about the significance of 5 Pointz, see the link to The Gothamist below.

As for me, I found it discomfiting that the self-appointed curator of 5 Pointz gave tours for $35 a head to the foreign tourists who flocked to Queens. At 10-20 tourists per group, you do the math. Graffiti, street art, street murals, whatever you want to call it, was commodified a long time ago and the location of 5 Pointz across the street from MOMA PS1 seems like more than a mere coincidence.

The photos in this blog post are a selection of paintings that I saw on two visits in June and November.

http://gothamist.com/2013/11/19/5pointz_is_gone_and_thats_not_a_bad.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/nyregion/5pointz-a-graffiti-mecca-in-queens-is-wiped-clean-overnight.html?hpw&rref=nyregion&_r=0