5Pointz artists score $6.7 million win against developer

A file photo of a man shoveling snow outside 5Pointz in 2011. AP Photo/Frank Franklin II.

By Victoria Merlino

More than 20 artists whose vibrant murals put Long Island City graffiti hub 5Pointz on the map will receive $6.7 million from the developer who whitewashed their works, a New York appeals court announced on Thursday.

The ruling, made by Judge Barrington Parker, upholds the initial ruling made in Brooklyn Federal Court in 2018. 

Developer Gerald Wolkoff struck a deal with graffiti artist Jonathan Cohen, known as Meres One,  in 2002 to turn his Long Island City warehouses into exhibition spaces and studios for artists. Cohen went to work curating the project, which grew into an internationally recognized hotspot for graffiti and street art, according to the 32-page court decision.

In 2013, Cohen discovered that Wolkoff had applied for permits to tear the building down and build luxury apartments on the site. He attempted to have the building landmarked, and then tried to raise enough money to buy the building, but was not successful. 

Cohen banded together with a number of 5Pointz artists to sue Wolkoff in an attempt to stop the destruction of the artwork. The artists sued under the the Visual Artists Rights Act, a copyright law that gives artists certain rights in regards to their artwork, including modification and destruction. 

After some legal wrangling, Wolkoff banned the artists from going to the site after their  temporary restraining order expired and he directed workers to whitewash the murals. 

Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Frederic Block ruled that Wolkoff had violated VARA in 2018. 

The process of building luxury apartments continues and, THE CITY reported last year, Wolkoff wants to use the 5Pointz name to lure artists back to paint the new building.