Street artists set to receive $6.75M after U.S. Supreme Court dismisses 5 Pointz developer appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the developers of 5 Pointz in Long Island City. The decision means the artists will receive roughly $6.75 million in damages. AP Photo/Frank Franklin II.

By Rachel Vick

The artists who turned a vacant Long Island City warehouse into a vibrant graffiti landmark, only to see their work destroyed by a white-washing real estate developer, will receive roughly $6.75 million in damages after the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the company behind the 2013 erasure.

The eight Supreme Court justices declined to hear the appeal by Queens firm G&M Realty, which was trying to overturn several lower court rulings that sided with the artists who painted the building, known as 5 Pointz, based on the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.

"Seven years later all the art is gone and cannot be brought back," Marie Cecile Flageul, a spokesperson for the 5Pointz artists on the case, told Gothamist. "With this final chapter the legacy of 5 Pointz is and will be this historical recognition of the art form and a victory for visual artists and their moral rights."

A group of more than 20 artists sued when former owner Jerry Wolkoff, who died in July, painted over the work that turned a drab facade into an iconic art installation without warning and before demolition permits were issued.

Wolkoff had previously allowed the artists to paint the exterior of the building, which came to be known as 5 Pointz and attracted creators and admirers from around the world.

"Wolkoff whitewashed the artworks without any genuine business need to do so. It was simply, as the district court found, an 'act of pure pique and revenge' toward the artists who had sued him," according to a February decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

"The whitewashing did not end the conflict in a single evening. The effects lingered for almost a year,” the 32-page-ruling concluded. “The district court noted that the sloppy, half‐hearted nature of the whitewashing left the works easily visible under layers of cheap white paint, reminding the artists on a daily basis of what had happened to them.”

G&M Realty did not immediately respond to a request for comment.