At the United Nations of Graffiti (a.k.a 5Pointz)

A little over a year ago, giant alien faces, hovering helicopters, googly eyes, bubble letters, Charlie Chaplin, cartoon creatures, hearts and swords and sailors and statements of a wide variety adorned the warehouse walls at 5 Pointz, in Long Island City, Queens. For more than 20 years, 200’000 square-feet of warehouse walls here served as concrete canvas to graffiti artists from around the world. This ‘United Nations of Graffiti’ gave this otherwise transitory art form a semi-permanent home.

Today, the aliens, pirate ships, bubble letters, cartoons and statements exist no longer. They were painted over in white. The building’s owner has decided to tear down the structures by the end of the year to make room for luxury apartments. And, apparently, painting over and killing the art now (rather than destroying when the buildings come down at year’s end) was the only humane thing to do (said the owner, according to the New York Times Night Falls, and 5Pointz, a Graffiti Mecca, Is Whited Out in Queens).

Here’s what it looked like upon my first—and last—visit a little over a year ago.

And here is what it looks like now:

 Photo from Stephen Nessen/WNYC  5Pointz Painted: Queens Loses a Graffiti Landmark