N.Y. Developer Seeks SCOTUS Review of 5Pointz Graffiti Art Case

A New York property owner who was forced to pay $6.75 million for whitewashing a “mecca” for graffiti art asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to reverse the ruling.

G&M Realty argued the part of the Visual Artists Rights Act that protected the art from destruction was unconstitutionally vague, and that the Second Circuit’s decision “leaves property owners across the country with considerable uncertainty when it comes to ownership of art.”

Gerald Wolkoff’s G&M Realty owned 5Pointz, a set of warehouses that was a prominent site for aerosol art in Queens, N.Y. A group of artists whose works were ...