Judge Awards Graffiti Artists $6.7 Million for Destroyed Murals Twenty one artists filed a lawsuit after their works were destroyed, in order to turn the old New York warehouses into luxury residences. The artists sued the landlord of a Long Island City complex called 5Pointz under the Visual Rights Act, a federal law that protects artists. U.S. District Judge Frederic Block in Brooklyn said 45 of the 49 paintings were recognized works of art that were "wrongfully and willfully destroyed."