Is It Art?

Is graffiti a form of art? Everyone has a different view on this question, personally I think graffiti is absolutely not art. This is because of many different reason some being it ruins buildings, cost’s a lot of money and can create a wave effect. Graffiti should be illegal and if you are caught doing it you deserve a fine.

Graffiti should be illegal because it is very expensive to remove, this leads to more money spent by tax payers to remove some teenage scribbles. Over the years cities have spent a lot of money to clean up graffiti “in 2006, the city of chicago budgeted 6.5 million dollars”. This money did not come from thin air, this is taxpayer money that instead of being put to good use has to be used on scribbles that areas look low class. By allowing graffiti to be legal and considered art form you are teaching children to break rules. The use of spray is closely watched for a reason “in some places you can’t buy spray paint unless you are 18”. By not allowing teenagers with no I.D to purchase spray paint you are helping them make good choices, instead of these kids spray painting and ruining a building they might home and do something productive.

Graffiti is and promotes crimes. By allowing graffiti in your cities and towns you are taking on the risk of a more crime ridden population, this is due to the wave effect “graffiti sometimes has a wave effect, in which heavily vandalized areas will experience increases in other sorts of crimes as well.”. This wave effect can be detrimental to both the people and the buildings of a city. Many times graffiti, occurs on private property forcing the building owner to spend their own money to erase the scribbles, “most graffiti is placed on private property without the owner’s permission” this means that people are committing vandalism every time they spray the can.

In conclusion, I do no think that graffiti is considered art it ruins the clean look of buildings in America, and many other countries. The only time graffiti should be allowed is when a government official gives you a permit to create a professional piece of art or when the owner of the building asks you to paint something on their building. Graffiti has no place in this country due to the damage it causes the framework of cities and towns.

Featured image: “Graffiti, Market St” by Salim Virji is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0