NY Graffiti Writers Win $6.8 Million From Property Developers
Here’s one of the better stories for 2020. New York Graffiti artists have just won a lawsuit against property developers Wolkoff for a whopping $6.8 mil. The story starts back in 2018 when the developers destroyed the works of 21 artists to construct new luxury apartments at the iconic 5Pointz graffiti ‘Mecca.'
At first, it looked like that was that, with the property developers arguing that graffiti works are never intended to last a long time and destroying them is actually part of the identity of graffiti and its culture. Luckily, that decision was just overturned by an NYC federal judge. It was decided that graffiti art was a ‘recognised stature’ (like other art), and was therefore protected, meaning the property moguls had to pay up big time for whitewashing the works. So in a crazy turn of events, the 21 graffiti NYC artists are now owed $6.8 Million by property Billionaires. Yes! See the court's decision below.
“Although a work’s short lifespan means that there will be fewer opportunities for the work to be viewed and evaluated, the temporary nature of the art is not a bar to recognize stature.”