The Destruction of 5Pointz (Untitled) The Walkoff Family and the City of New York

While this was not really a work of art, it involved the destruction of hundreds of works. In Mid 2014, the owners of 5Pointz were able to pass a 400 million dollar building plan through the New York City Council which would involve the destruction of the local legend. In order to quell the pain of losing such an important part of New York to many, the owners decided to whitewash the building pre-demolition, rather than watch the artworks crumble with the building itself.

The whitewash can be seen as an intervention of commercialization upon local architectures. It describes the futility of the street artist’s name and how, even in a protected area, his or her work is not safe. Read more about the whitewash and tear down here.