The ripped bowels of a building on Jackson Ave. in Queens, New York is all that's left of the former artistic hub 5Pointz. Created as gathering place for graffiti artists, the painted structure has been torn down piece by piece over the last few weeks. A harrowing image from Twitter shows the sad end to this iconic New York space.
5Pointz was sentenced to demolition in Nov. 2013, spurring artists and community members to protest the plan and try to establish the building as a city landmark. This battle was lost, and after whitewashing the building (a controversial move that sparked public outrage), owners David and Jerry Wolkoff began tearing down the building this summer. After the debris of the once great building is carted away, the Wolkoffs plan to build a pair of high-rise apartment buildings on the site.
Despite the painful images of the building coming down, 5Pointz artists continue to come together to paint and socialize. In September, they joined forces to paint a 9/11 tribute mural in Crown Heights, so while the building may be gone, the community that inhabited it remains.
