5 Pointz Aerosol Arts Center

If you’ve taken the 7 Line out to Queens, there’s little doubt you’ve seen it.  Once you emerge from the subway tunnel’s darkness onto the elevated tracks high above Long Island City, look to your left and you’ll be sure to see creative splashes of color angled and curved in every direction covering the brick walls of a vast warehouse complex.   It’s immediately clear that all of this is a bit intense to be the work of some errant kids with a couple spray paint cans and a little too much time on their hands.

Graffiti Art at 5 Pointz Queens

You’ve just gotten a bird’s eye view of 5 Pointz Aerosol Arts Center, an outdoor art exhibit space serving as a premiere “graffiti Mecca” showcasing artists from around the globe on 200,000-square-feet of highly contested wall space.  The name 5 Pointz signifies NYC’s five boroughs coming together but the place has actually drawn aerosol artists from  Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, and all over the U.S..

It all started in 2002 when a graffiti artist from Flushing with tag name “Meres One” opened up this 4 story abandoned factory at 45-46 Davis Street (map).  His mission was to discourage graffiti vandalism and give these artists, often derided as a nuisance, a legitimate palate.  Ever since, it has been dripping in Technicolor expressionism.  Garage doors, courtyard walls, and any space that can be reached with the onsite 50-foot orange bucket-lift is fair game as long as they have a permit.

While the artists do their best to make a lasting impression, it is the community that decides how long each piece of art stays up before it’s covered by someone else.  Stop in and see the masterpiece of the week along with some venerable survivors.

Hours:  Weekdays by appointment, weekends 12-5 p.m., 317.219.2685

By subway: Take the 7 train to 45 Rd/Court House Sq., cross Jackson Ave., and walk a half block down Davis St.

photo courtesy of 5ptz.com