Arts & Culture: What is Art? Is art art? Are we art?: Lisa Turtle’s Dilemma & Its Relation To 5 Pointz & Self-Expression

Today’s Mood Ingredients: Inspired, Sad, Artistic, Logical.

If you’re not a New Yorker or you’re not an artist, there is a chance you may not have heard of iconic 5 Pointz, an outdoor art exhibit space on a 20,000 square foot factory building in Long Island City. Aerosol artists from New York’s five boroughs & all over the world came to 5 Pointz to graffiti (in the non-negative sense of the word) all over the space, attracting the likes of boldfaced stars like Doug E. Fresh, Mos Def, & Joan Jett as well. 5 Pointz became a haven for those artists whose medium was aerosol spray cans, and let’s be honest, not quite the most respected of the lot. They would flock to the factory building to express, impress, inspire, collaborate, and experiment, all the while creating incredible colorful displays of, what I presume to be, their thoughts. Unfortunately, as of November 2013, 5 Pointz is no longer in existence. As the curator of the space petitioned to have 5 Pointz become a museum & save it from demolition, the owners of the building had the space whitewashed overnight with the security of police protection. Here comes the question. What was the point in the whitewashing? If the building was to be demolished anyway, why add insult to injury & just go and basically delete the years of expression and artistry and hard work that went into the pieces on those walls? Understandably, the owners of the building had/have the right to do whatever they want with the space, it’s theirs. What I don’t understand is this; for years, this space was a place for community and expression. For years, it thrived as a place for this specific type of artist to come & not be arrested for using aerosol to create. Why the sudden urge for condominiums (and in an already saturated Long Island City)? It is obviously illegal to “tag” up a public place & you can and will be arrested for graffiti’ing pretty much everywhere, which I agree with. Sorry, but I don’t want to see your big orange bubble letters on a public library wall. However, I can appreciate artistry with the best of them & do believe that those individuals who excel in this form of art should have a place where they are free from the fear of glowing blue & red lights and silver (definitely not a cute accessory) cuffs. The need for people to put their feelings into something solid and tangible is valid. The need for a businessperson to want to make more money is valid. I refuse to believe that some sort of agreement or middle ground couldn’t have been reached in this case.

All of that rhetoric aside, I’d like to ask a question of you. What is self-expression exactly? An outlet that allows an individual to feel free, to be themselves, to be unique, maybe to release stress or anger or sadness? That’s what it is to me, anyway, and I couldn’t survive without it. I don’t know what I’d do if someone suddenly erased all records of my dance performances or told me that I can no longer use a particular space to dance in that I had been connected to and performing in for years. In my opinion, self-expression is a necessity for society. To be able to not only make yourselves feel, but to inspire and to make others feel something, anything, with something you have created with the fruits of your labor is an irreplaceable, inherently good thing. To many, it may be intangible. To many, it may be too philosophical. But to many, it is innate and it is important.

Art to one person, whether it be performance or creative or visual, may be trash to another, but who is the decision maker as to what should be revered and what should be disregarded? My heart goes out to you, artists of 5 Pointz & all other such artists out there. The wonderful part about expressing yourself through your art is that you always have your tools within you. That’s something no one can steal from you & I suppose there is at least a little solace in that. I hope you find somewhere else accepting of your immense talents and understanding of your visions, because, Ansel Adams said it best:

“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.” 

More information about 5 Pointz here, and more articles about the demolition here.

(Header photo credit: http://www.inhabitant.com; Footer photo credit: @WNYC on Twitter)

Today’s Interlude: The Living End, “Prisoner of Society”