Former 5Pointz Curator Meres One Moves On To rag & bone

After a bitter battle between building owner Jerry Wolkoff and local graffiti artists, the local graffiti culture center 5Pointz was whitewashed out and prepped for demolition in November. The community promptly responded by tagging the fresh walls demonizing Wolkof for his decision to replace 5Pointz with two high rise luxury residences.

Former 5Pointz curator and graffiti artist Jonathan Cohen, also known as his graffiti handle Meres One, has moved on and found a new canvas to express his art. Clothing company rag & bone has invited Cohen to paint on the wall of its Nolita location for the month of December, an invitation he accepted last Saturday with a black-and-white reimagining of his “Bright Idea” mural.

rag & bone’s Nolita location is no stranger to local graffiti, and has regularly hosted graffiti art on its walls since 2010. The store hosts a new graffiti artist every month and runs an album of the works on its Pinterest page.

Graffiti Mecca 5Pointz To Be Razed In December

The legal battle to save the 5Pointz graffiti monument seems to have come to an end. The owners of 5Pointz, Jerry Wolkof and his son David, have until recently allowed artists to use their building as a graffiti site. However, the Wolkofs have drafted city-approved plans to construct two high-rise residential buildings on the property and are moving to have 5Pointz demolished by the end of the year.

The building has a long standing reputation as a center of the graffiti scene that has seen worldwide attention from artists. A small but dedicated legal movement led by artist Jonathan “Meres” Cohen has developed in an effort to save the building.

Photo courtesy of David Shankbone via flickerCC

Federal judge Frederic Block made a ruling on Friday that he could not legally grant an injunction that would have saved the building, though he stated that he does “love the work and it’s going to tear my heart out to see it torn down.”

Block suggested submitting an application to the Landmark Preservation Commission to have 5Pointz recognized, but the commission rejected the application. City law requires that a site be at least 30 years old to be considered for landmark status, and the LPC found the graffiti to be too recent to qualify.