Graffiti is art?

How would you feel if you owned a building and someone sprayed painted on it? Some people love it while some people hate it. I would’ve loved it. Using graffiti on a building adds character to a building that some people are even willing to pay for. It also allows people to show their freedom of expression by not being restricted by rules. Lastly, Graffiti even represents political and social themes.

I am not someone who likes to be restricted by rules and told what to do and neither do other people. Which makes Graffiti so nice for artists who feel the same way. Graffiti is a way for people to show freedom of expression. It shows creativity and allows them to have more leeway than painting a canvas. Painting a canvas for a gallery always has rules and restrictions. While Graffiti doesn’t. “Taking creativity to the streets means that artists don’t need to worry about gallery curators, critics or potential buyers.”(“ArtLife”) It gives people an opportunity to show people who they are and what they believe in.

Graffiti adds characteristics to the streets that some people turn their heads on but this one girl was drawn to it. She was from a small town in New Jersey where there was no graffiti anywhere. She was drawn to Philadelphia because she loved the idea of having splashes of color throughout the streets. As she learned more about it she believed that it should be legal and that “ people automatically jump to conclusions that it’s illegal and not artistic,” But they were wrong, instead of trying to think why they might do it they automatically say that “its vandalism” and that “they should be arrested”. But graffiti is just a different form of art. “These forms of artwork are very valid in their own right. You just have to see it differently.” With graffiti becoming more popular, so haven’t street tours. Street tours have become way more popular throughout the years as graffiti grew in popularity. People are willing to pay to see some different artists’ work. One thing that I read on a website is that painting a wall outside is vandalism but someone can paint an inside wall and it’s called art. What is the difference between the two walls?

Graffiti can make a huge impact politically and socially. Different artists express different things through their art. For example, Keith Harring brought “attention to the crack epidemic through his Crack is wack mural as well as homosexuality and the AIDS crisis.” (“ArtLife”) Keith and other artists who make murals like this are their way to shed light on difficult topics like crack, AIDS, and homosexuality.

As demonstrated in the last four paragraphs is the reason why graffiti is art, not vandalism. Graffiti allows people to have freedom of expression by showing their imagination. It adds character to the buildings which has made town tours more popular. Lastly, it has helped bring attention to serious issues through comical art.

Works Cited

“ArtLife.” Artlife, 3 October 2023, https://www.artlife.com/news/graffiti-art-why-graffiti-is-art-and-not-vandalism. Accessed 9 November 2023.

Burach, Rae, and Sydney Schaefer. “Graffiti is art, not vandalism.” The Temple News, 16 January 2018, https://temple-news.com/graffiti-is-art-not-vandalism/. Accessed 9 November 2023.

“graffiti of cow bones in st kilda” by ajfisher.td is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.