It’s Art, Idiot

Graffiti is often debated as art or not. Graffiti is an art that the artist has no other way of showcasing. Art requires technique and skills and graffiti is a form of art that requires both skill and complex techniques. Graffiti artists just need help/someone to show them how to use their talent in a more productive way. Graffiti artists are being labeled as criminals for doing the form of art they love most.

Some people say this is a serious crime, while not fully understanding how much skill and effort they put into each and every tag ” “However, larger pieces require planning and imagination and contain artistic elements like color and composition. Stowers provides the example of wildstyle, or the calligraphic writing style of interlocking letters typical of graffiti, to show the extent of artistic elements that are present in these works.”(Graffiti as Art) Artists need writing skills and good color. It provides the artist with the practice they need to improve their skill. once the skill is impeccable they can move off from doing street art

Also, people are starting to become more welcoming seeing it as new art. Not seeing it as a defacing of public property to the artist. For example, “People are used to seeing graffiti art in public spaces, after all, that’s what makes it graffiti. However, after years of gaining recognition by the art community, graffiti art has been shown in various galleries in New York and London, and artists are often commissioned to do legal murals and other work for art shows.”(Graffiti is Art). If it wasn’t art, people wouldn’t want to pay their hard-earned money on these murals. People are finally taking a step back to see this beautiful art given a chance and these artists will display their work in shows and galleries.

However, some people still view graffiti as vandalism. An example is in this article: “there is the concern that tagging may be a “gateway crime,” and may lead young offenders to more serious or dangerous crimes such as truancy and drug and alcohol use. ” (Graffiti is vandalism ). First off, yes in some places, it is against the law, but getting canvases isn’t cheap, especially the ones on the same scale as most tag’s most young graffiti artist love doing art. They don’t want the attention, but want people to see what they can do. It could be a gateway crime sure, or it might not that’s up to the artist and how many people they want to see their art. Almost everything could be a gateway crime in some way. It’s up to the person to choose to do more than just art it’s not because of the art. It’s because of the person!

Yes a little childish, but it’s not at the same time. It’s art, a form of expression. It’s beautiful people would pay for it if they knew this quote “… But perhaps there are other ways to cooperate with graffiti artists rather than just opposing them. Graffiti artists can create sanctioned murals for private property owners and get paid for it.” ( Graffiti is it art ). This quote proves there are better ways to go about the murals as more people become welcoming of this beautiful art form, we don’t need to look away we need to look at the artist and help them be better than just street artists.

When an artist has nowhere to showcase their artwork they turn to graffiti, although it’s considered illegal, it is an art that requires multiple skills and technics to pull off some of the most elaborate graffiti displays.

“Urban Street Art #street art” by Leshaines123 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.