Find Somewhere Else to do Graffiti

Graffiti isn’t art; it is vandalism. The reason graffiti isn’t considered art is that it is illegal. It causes a lot of damage and causes people to spend money on unnecessary things because people can’t do their form of art on their property or in places where they can put it. It upsets property owners who must spend their hard-earned money fixing it.

Graffiti causes a lot of annoyance to the people who own the private properties. There is no reason to ruin other people’s property because someone wants to do something, “Most graffiti art, however, is only an annoyance to the property owner, who is more likely to paint over it or remove it than applaud its artistic merit.”(Dolan 1) There are certain places where people can do graffiti, but I don’t think you should do it on private properties, it causes damage and I wouldn’t want that and I’m sure many property owners would agree. Vandalism is usually associated with a gang or gang violence which can cause trouble to innocent people and I don’t think that is fair.

Vandalism can cause a lot of problems for multiple reasons, including legal reasons, gang violence, and potentially by some of these property owners, I think that property owners should just be able to do their own thing and not have the stress of having someone ruin their property, “Gang-related crimes and violence are the crimes most commonly associated with graffiti.” ( Dolan 4) The reason gang is associated with graffiti is that is their way of marking “their” territory which I don’t think is fair, mark where you associate with on your things not people’s businesses. In graffiti, there are a lot of hateful messages being sent through it and it makes it even worse to look at if hateful messages are being sent through, “Graffiti that is gang-related or expresses hateful sentiments is most likely to be unwelcome in an area.”(Dolan 4) Having hateful sentiments in an area especially where it can’t easily go away, I think is awful if someone is walking or driving past they shouldn’t have to see hurtful messages to other people, and it makes it even worse for kids. Graffiti can ruin a neighborhood and can cause other houses to drop in value because of it.

Not only does graffiti cause damage to property it causes prices to drop of surrounding buildings, and it has a stereotype that it’s a lower-class community because things are ruined, which I think makes a lot of sense. Graffiti as a whole just creates problems and I don’t think many people like to look at it, “Vandalism is usually seen as a quality of life issue. When an area has extensive graffiti, people tend to view it as a “bad neighborhood.” Nearby property value may decrease and crime may increase. Plus, residents see graffiti as an eyesore.” (Dolan 4) Graffiti is seen as a quality-of-life issue because it gets tied into lower-class communities. Property values are a big thing because when gangs mark their territory by graffiti it causes property to drop around that because people don’t want to be around that and could be in danger.

In conclusion, graffiti is being held back by the fact that people are doing it illegally and it is causing a lot of damage and repairs that are coming out of taxpayers’ wallets which I think isn’t fair. I don’t think graffiti is art because it causes a lot of problems for people who aren’t even doing graffiti. If the people who were doing graffiti weren’t vandalizing property then it would be fine but they aren’t, so I don’t think it is art and it creates problems all around that surrounding area.


“Sest & Evol ID LosAngeles Lakers Graffiti Art” by anarchosyn is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
“Graffiti” by duncan is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.