The Art of the Spray Paint

Is graffiti an art form? A question that a lot of people don’t think about when they see graffiti, they usually think of it as vandalism, and most of the time that’s what it is. That is what graffiti typically is when you see it, just some scribbly-looking letters written on something it shouldn’t be, “Any passerby in an urban cityscape has observed the colorful, provocative, illegal “eyesore” that is graffiti.” (“Graffiti as Art” 3) on some sort of building, or a bench, or even a bathroom stall, and that I would say is vandalism. I would say that is vandalism because it’s on property that doesn’t belong to the person that put the mark there, and they usually just doing it to be a hooligan if it’s something like that. But, not all graffiti is vandalism, especially now. People are waking up to the fact that graffiti can be art, it’s the type of graffiti that’s planned out, colorful, big, and usually has some type of meaning to it, that kind of graffiti is art, just usually people put that art in the wrong place. Not wrong in the sense that the artist won’t get the publicity they want, just wrong in the sense that they are doing it on other people’s property without permission, which is vandalism. But, when done right, graffiti is art whether done illegally or not it is art, it just has to hit the criteria of having meaning and actually looking like art and not just someone’s scribbled name, just the graffiti can’t be admired properly if it’s done illegally.

Where do you usually see graffiti? In a city somewhere, either on some wall, or bridge, or whatever, and I’m talking about real graffiti, big murals, stuff that takes time and effort. That’s why graffiti has a bad reputation, but not all graffiti is done illegally. When it’s not done illegally and is put up in some place like an art gallery or a museum like they did in Los Angeles in the “Graffiti: Art or Vandalism?” video when the graffiti was in the museum being shown off properly, it was attracting, not art connoisseurs but, “…the regular folks just curious about this art.” (“Graffiti: Art or Vandalism?”) which means that graffiti must look good to some degree that even regular people think that it’s art and are curious about it. Now, as I said before it can’t just be any graffiti, the graffiti has to meet certain criteria for it to be considered art and those criteria are best described by George C. Stowers “He makes a distinction between simple tags and more complicated pieces, stating that tags have little aesthetic appeal and probably should not be considered art. However, larger pieces require planning and imagination and contain artistic elements like color and composition.” (“Graffiti as Art” 3) it is true you can’t just do something that just looks like your name all scribbly and is only one color and call it art, but the big, colorful, collages of meaningful messages, that is what I typically think of when I hear the word graffiti. Something else that stuck with me is how Stowers explains why you should look past the fact that graffiti is done illegally and see it as just art “…graffiti cannot be disregarded because of its location and illegality. The manner in which graffiti art is executed is the only obstacle it faces in being considered an art form.” (“Graffiti as Art” 3) another very true statement, when you think about it, if graffiti was never done illegally it wouldn’t have a negative connotation to it, it would simply be viewed as art, but because it has been done illegally so many times, it has a bad reputation and doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

Here is my look on it, art is art, if you put your time and energy into making it look good and at the end of the day you’re proud of it, so yes graffiti is an art form, so isn’t teaching, so isn’t any trade work, anything can be a form of art as long as you put time, energy, and meaning into it, then it’s art. Art is what you make not what other people say it is, and art takes time to make, so any art that’s taken down, or destroyed in any way, is despicable to the artist, unless the artist’s art is destroying things.

“Spray Paint Can” by mvfti is licensed under CC BY 2.0.