Graffiti artists suing 5Pointz owner for whitewashing their work from building

NY Daily News ^ | June 12, 2015 | Ginger Adams Otis

[Zakeet]

Nine graffiti artists who spray painted creations across the world-renowned 5Pointz building filed a lawsuit Friday in Brooklyn federal court, seeking unspecified damages from the owner who whitewashed away their artwork.

[Snip]

The aerosol artists say they are owed substantial cash damages because Wolkoff painted over their al fresco works.

[Snip]

The iconic buildings had more than 350 works of visual art on the walls — inside and out — when Wolkoff destroyed them, the lawsuit said.

The colorful, eye-catching creations were torn down for good last summer.

[TexasGator]

“(2) With respect to works of visual art created before the effective date set forth in section 610(a) of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990, but title to which has not, as of such effective date, been transferred from the author, the rights conferred by subsection (a) shall be coextensive with, and shall expire at the same time as, the rights conferred by section 106. “

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[zeugma]

Vandalism is a crime. Unless the owner asked them to paint it and even then it is his property and he can do as he sees fit. If I owned a Picasso and decide to paint over it that is my business not your nor the world’s.

Yup. And for most of Picasso's works, that would be no great loss for the world IMO.

[IYAS9YAS]

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Don't need to, unless they can prove that no artist ever covered up another artist's work, they lose.