Art genocide was executed early on Tuesday morning. Internationally renowned street artist haven 5Pointz was unceremoniously painted white. For decades, street artist were allowed to create extensive aerosol art on the Long Island City building, attracting spray cans from all over the world, and was long considered the “United Nations of Graffiti”– a throwback to a time when NYC was a much different place and The Warriors ruled Coney Island.
5Pointz is set to be demolished by the end of the week to make room for, you guessed it, luxury apartments. So much for city landmarks. This is a sign of city gentrification, right? (Side note: Whenever someone talks about a neighborhood becoming gentrified, they always refer to it as “The new Williamsburg.”)
In the blanket of night, workers silently (well, I’m not sure if they were actually silent) painted over the legendary walls of 5Pointz, whitewashing away art history, erasing (destroying) the work of hundreds of artists. All the Banksys – who aren’t Banksy – painted their works on 5Pointz. In a world where graffiti is considered vandalism, this act was artistic vandalism.
As we mourn 5Pointz, let’s drink a 40 and give respect to other great works of art that have been vandalized through the ages.
“Fountain” by Duchamp
Sure it’s just a urinal, but it’s a urinal valued at $3.6 million. In 2006, Fountain” was vandalized with a hammer by a 76-year-old performance artist. The same man urinated in the piece.
“The Little Mermaid” by Eriksen
You can’t think of Copenhagen without thinking about this work of art. Still, this statue ha its head and arms sawed off numerous times and had been blasted off its rock base by dynamite. The Little Mermaid has been covered in every color of paint imaginable.
“The Actor” by Picasso
I always wondered about these type of museum mishaps: in 2010 a New York woman fell into The Actor and caused a six-inch tear. The painting is worth $130 million.
“Sunflowers” by Van Gough
In 1888, Van Gough painted a series of sunflowers. One of the paintings was destroyed in an American bombing raid on Japan during World War II.
