5Pointz Graffiti Artists Awarded Maximum Damages by Brooklyn Federal Court
Robert Roth
From the New York Times: Graffiti Artists Awarded $6.7 Million for Destroyed 5Pointz Murals
From the Village Voice: 5Pointz Verdict a Mixed Blessing for Graffiti Artists: A judge’s award of $6.75 million to whitewashed muralists is great for schadenfreude, but could complicate future relations with property owners
In a 100-page decision (including 48 pages of reproductions of works of art), EDNY Judge Frederic Block yesterday applied VARA -- the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 -- to award a total of $6,750,000 in statutory damages against a building owner who destroyed Queens buildings with VARA-protected works of visual art attached to them. That total was reached by multiplying VARA's maximum statutory damages of $150,000 by the 45 works covered by it.
In an earlier opinion, the Judge noted that the Gerald Wolkoff’s Long Island City buildings known as 5Pointz “had become the repository of the largest collection of exterior aerosol art . . . in the United States” and that this litigation “marks the first occasion that a court has had to determine whether the work of an exterior aerosol artist—given its general ephemeral nature—is worthy of any protection under the law..” In explaining the maximum award, the Judge declared:
If not for Wolkoff’s insolence, these damages would not have been assessed. If he did not destroy 5Pointz until he received his permits and demolished it 10 months later, the Court would not have found that he had acted willfully. Given the degree of difficulty in proving actual damages, a modest amount of statutory damages would probably have been more in order.
The shame of it all is that since 5Pointz was a prominent tourist attraction the public would undoubtedly have thronged to say its goodbyes during those 10 months and gaze at the formidable works of aerosol art for the last time. It would have been a wonderful tribute for the artists that they richly deserved.
I am curious: Do you intend to give your landlord clients any different advice on responding to graffiti painted on the sides of their buildings? Should there be warning signs? If so, what should they say?
Robert Roth
Attorney At Law
http://www.martindale.com/Robert-Roth/400112-lawyer.htm?view=cr
http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/11219-ny-robert-roth-835438.html
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