Is Graffiti Really Art?

Is it Art Or Is It Vadiliziam?

As a kid when I would ride around with my parent’s I used to look at all the paintings on the walls of buildings in the city. I was also fascinated that someone could put detail in a painting as large as 10 feet high. Though as I grow older I realize that maybe those paintings aren’t as great as I thought they were. As I am older now I see the more disrespectful side of graffiti. I see it now as if I had owned a business or private building I would want people painting all over it. In fact, I see it as disrespectful. Many building owners have no control over people painting graffiti on their buildings. And for those owners, it’s costly for them to have the paint removed and then it repainted the color it was before. Graffiti is costly and illegal.

Graffiti has been a thing for a while now and everyone has their own opinion on it by now. But the debate still stands on whether it is public art or vandalism. While many see it as art it is actually considered vandalism due to many graffiti artists doing their art on buildings where the owner never agreed or had known about the painting. In an article by Steve Dolan “ Is graffiti Art?” he stated “A friend of mine has had his fence repainted 7 times at least, and it took him a while to find out why it was happening!”( Dolan). His friend had to repaint his fence 7 times! Paint is not cheap these days and for someone to have to paint their fence 7 times because someone sprayed graffiti all over it I think is just wrong. And to add Steve Dolan says “In some places, you can’t buy spray paint unless you’re over 18. Cans of spray paint are locked away in display cases. In a nearby area, the local council employs someone to go around and repaint any fences defaced by graffiti.” (Dolan) For those 18 and older to buy spray paint shows that graffiti is an ongoing issue that is causing trouble for home and business owners.

Many people see graffiti so much now they think nothing of it, but graffiti is technically illegal by law. Many graffiti arts are done on privately owned buildings that are owned by everyday people. It would be the same as someone doing graffiti art on your house. And even as public prosperity, it is referred to as the destruction of public property or vandalism. I myself like the cool art designs of graffiti but I wouldn’t want it done on my house by someone I don’t know personally. according to a study done in Chicago by “graffitihurts.org”, “In 2006, Chicago budgeted $6.5 million while Omaha, Nebraska spends about $100,000 annually”(graffitihurts.org). also found by “graffitihurts.org” ” Graffiti sometimes has a wave effect, in which a heavily vandalized area will experience increases in other sorts of crimes as well” (graffitihurts.org). so Chicago for example, graffiti is having a bad influence on the city and it is costing the city lots of money to remove it. In joint with the quote, they also mentioned, “In addition to cleanup costs, graffiti vandals often shoplift their materials, according to the U.S. Department of Justice”( gaffitihurts.org). according to the U.S Department of justice crime has been proven to be linked to graffiti in some cases.

I think graffiti is cool, but I also think that it could be used in a more polite manner, maybe a possible alternative would be a certain place where graffiti painters can paint legally, and those who enjoy the paintings can go there. I think that would be a good alternative for both sides.

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