Considering that Mr. Wolkoff allowed and supported over a decade's worth of art and hard work on his buildings and promised new space for artists on his new buildings, it's hard to understand how he came to the conclusion that painting over internationally recognized and renown murals before destroying the entire structure they are painted on was the "humane" thing to do. The greatest irony of this action, in my opinion, is that he orders the work done under the cover of night, just like graffiti writers had to work back when graffiti was considered strictly vandalism. I get it, not everyone regards graffiti as art (and not all of it is), but not everything hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is appreciable or understandable by everyone either. This gives exactly NO ONE the right to petition the Met to have work painted over and destroyed, and Mr. Wolkoff should have exercised the same respect.
The buildings were coming down; that was a short, mostly one-sided scuffle
decided by a judge. But even a court order is not a good enough reason not to
treat the large, world-wide community that regarded this building as an
unofficial landmark, Graffiti Ground Zero, the Mecca of an influential
art-style and an important element of hip-hop culture with a minimal amount of
RESPECT. These artists created countless pieces of artwork on these structures' walls both legally and with full permission by the owners, the same owners who unbelievably likened their own ironic act of white-out vandalism to "forcing a child to take medicine." There could have been alternate methods to officially bring this chapter to
a close, the very community Mr.Wolkoff has deeply offended could have helped him,
but instead he opted to crown himself the 5-Points Killa.
Mr. Wolkoff should have allowed a death-bed visit, not the heart-breaking discovery of a
white-blooded murder scene.
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