Sites of Vision: Interview with Jonathan Cohen by Tyler Gorky 7.30.13

Our vision has a natural history, and as a social and cultural construction the vision we share has a natural capacity for perceptual responsiveness. We question and educate, because it is our responsibility to construct a different vision. This is what it means to recognize vision as a history.

All photos credit: Tyler Gorky

5Pointz Aerosol Art Center Inc. is already a part of this shared history, but unfortunately soon it may be only that. If it closes, it will cease to contribute daily to the mixture of optics, politics, and ethics of vision. 5Pointz, also known as “Institute of Higher Burning,” is located in Long Island City, NY. It is a five story, 200,00 square foot, block-long, industrial complex. 350 technicolor murals, give or take, can be found at this internationally-known graffiti mecca that attracts not only painters but also countless photographers, filmmakers, and Hip-hop artists from all over the globe.

Jonathan Cohen, best known by his signature tag “Meres One,” is a graffiti veteran and Flushing native who is the founder and curator of 5Pointz. Cohen started the TD4 crew as a teenager and studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in the mid ‘90s, transitioning from tags to pieces. Cohen has hundreds of pieces throughout the east coast and Holland. The following is a short phone interview with Cohen.

Tyler Gorky: What’s a typical day for you running 5Pointz?

Jonathan Cohen: It starts off by getting there. We’ll drive around, check on everything, make sure the walls are fine, and make sure there is nobody climbing or doing anything they shouldn’t be doing. Most days there is someone painting, so I give out spots. Sometimes I’m working on walls myself; sometimes we fix the walls. We prep; we clean up garbage. I treat it like it’s my home. It really is my home, my second home, and I make sure it looks the way I want it to look. I talk to tourists and give tours. This generally happens day to day.

TG: You said sometimes you work on the walls yourself; is there a project that you’re working on right now that you’re particularly proud of?

JC: I don’t have something right now; I’m trying to do something in the next week or two. There are a couple of different projects. I want to do part five of a collaboration with an artist named Cortez. This would be the last one. We have to sit down and talk about what we’re going to do for the finale. There are a couple of people coming into town, one even from Japan. I wouldn’t mind doing a collaboration with her. A couple of other little projects, nothing too major on the burner. A lot of that has to do with the issue of 5Pointz being gone and also the end of the season.

TG: Yes. It’s no secret that 5Pointz is being shut down soon-

JC: Wait, there’s nothing confirmed that we’re going to shut down soon, it’s a possibility. Nothing is in stone, nothing is definite. Permits and approvals that are necessary for the developer to do what he wants to do are not set in position yet. There’s no date or potential time that we might be gone. It’s something that’s being discussed and moving forward on his end but nothing is set in stone.

The landlord’s playing the press a lot to move things along, but it isn’t necessarily the way that it goes. I just want to tell people so that they don’t panic.

TG: I went there for the first time earlier this summer and I thought it was amazing. It’s not like it’s potentially being torn down for a better art center in that area. It’s supposedly getting torn down for an apartment complex or something?

JC: Yeah, I understand the real estate developers and the mayor and everyone that wants to build up New York and build all these new apartments and bring people in, possible revenue, blah blah blah. But by erasing all the culture of New York, you’re losing the actual soul and flavor, and that is the reason why everyone all over the world wants to see New York. That’s the issue.

TG: Obviously 5Pointz is a graffiti mecca internationally, but what do you think separates it from other museums or street spots?

JC: One main thing that is different than a lot of places is that you can paint any given day, and, regardless of whether you’re horrible or amazing, you still get a spot. There is no other place in the city where someone, no matter what skill level, can still get a wall. Somewhere you could go everyday and be like okay, I can paint here. If I have to, if I need to, if my other wall falls through, or whatever it may be, 5Pointz will be there. Another thing that makes 5Pointz so special to the people is that pretty much everyday there’s someone painting. Whereas there may be walls throughout the city of New York, but those walls may change once every couple months and unless you know the artist you’re not going to be able to go there and witness someone creating a beautiful piece of art.

TG: Do you think western culture is ocular-centric? Is it vision generated, based, and centered? If so, how do you think graffiti as an art medium affects ethics and politics?

JC: The wonderful thing about graffiti, legal or illegal, is that a picture is worth a thousand words. So if you go out and create a mural with a strong message, I think the eye more easily remembers that information, and depending on its location, it can affect a lot of people.

TG: What do you think 5Pointz’ place is in social analysis?

JC: 5Pointz is like an organism. It’s constantly growing. Compared to when I took over, 5Pointz has changed from just being graffiti to celebrating every element of Hip-hop. We started doing events that attracted families with their kids, so what started as more of a chill hangout became more of a family environment. Now I’m taking an educational direction with courses, classes and tours for kids. In the beginning, I didn’t think about the long run; I had no idea 5Pointz would formulate the way it has. I have some idea about what I would like to see next at 5Pointz, but I can’t say I know where it’s heading next. I’m very open-minded. We just take the good and the bad, and just ride the wave.

According to Cohen, over a hundred schools, bike tours, and full tour busses will continue to bring in more people to 5Pointz than its neighbor, MoMA PS1, throughout the summer. Cohen says he could always use help on weekends with all aspects of curating the “most relevant art form today.” He is grateful of what the landlord has given him, but says, “it hurts that he’s blind to the magnitude of what we’re doing.” A couple months ago a landmark application was submitted for the art center, and since then over 5,000 additional applications have also been submitted. If all else fails though, Captain Cohen says he’ll go down with the ship.

4546 Davis Street. L.I.C. NY 11111 Wednesday-Sunday 10:00 am-8:00pm. 5ptz.com