Is Graffiti Art?

Art has been one of the biggest controversies for a long time. The contoversy isn’t because of the art itself but what they’re spraying it on. Graffiti is a popular method of art used by Taggers. Taggers have been using buildings, trash cans and even cars as their canvas for years. Some graffiti on an old building that hasn’t been used for years wouldn’t be an issue, you would think. Graffiti on a building that’s being used and/or rented out could infact make someone really upset. Graffiti can be used for bad or good. It depends of your intentions and the way someone precives the art.

People who own older buildings in cities where graffiti is normally done could become victims of Taggers. For the people who like expressing their art, especially where street art is starting to be veiwed as a positive thing. “If it wasn’t for the fact that most graffiti is placed on private property without the owner’s permission, then it might be more recognized as a legitimate form of art. 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” (Pg.1). Taggers who are making graffiti on public buildings, homes and vehicles that are owned by people is not okay. In my opinion, I don’t think graffiti is vandalism when it is used appropriatly such as, on old city builing that are not in use or in a junkyard where nothing is used. There is a line that you cross between making art and just vadalism.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles is a museum of graffiti done by some of the best street artists that we know. They are trying to take the cynical and trashy meaning out fo the art by putting it on display to really show you how amazing it is. “Part of our goal with this exhibition was to kind of maybe steer young Graffiti artists away from doing illegal work and getting more excited about the fact that they could have a real career in this” (Tracy, Ben “Graffiti: Art or Vandalism?” Youtube, Uploaded by CBS, 23 April.2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Eu2na_diY). They want to show people that not all graffiti is an act of crime or vandalism and maybe give them a different perspective. I think that when it comes to topics like this that have a controvserial background, it really just depends on the person and how their mind works. Unfortunatly for the museums’ buisness, taggers saw how successsful it was and went and started spraying graffiti all around Los Angeles. We sometimes forget that people are entitled to their own opinion. It is okay for someone to think that all graffiti is straight up vandalism. It is also okay for someone to think it is art and it should be expressed all over the world, regardless of the law.

Taggers who spray graffiti normally shoplift their materials so lots of buisness are loosing money because of the constant loss in sales regarding spray paint. In solution to this Problem, shops have implimented locked doors in the spray paint section so it stops people from stealing them. “In addition to cleanup costs, graffiti vandals often shoplift their materials, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Stealing spray paint and markers adds an additional cost to businesses” (Pg.4). When I think about where my taxpayer dollars are going, I wan’t them to go toward somehting that will be useful for our community. Taxpayers have to pay for graffiti to be cleaned up which doesn’t seem fair. There is no other real solution for this issue. “The cost for cleanup in the U.S. has not been documented definitively, but it is safe to assume that it is in the billions of dollars. Large cities typically budget more money toward graffiti removal. In 2006, Chicago budgeted $6.5 million while Omaha, Nebraska spends about $100,000 annually, according to graffitihurts.org” (Pg.4). It’s irritating to know that you work hard for your money and that now your tax dollars are going towards cleaning up a city that you nesscarily don’t even live in or have never been to. Although there is nothing we can do about that, we can just hope that some taggers can come to an understanding that what they are doing on public property is wrong.

Graffiti will always have a controversial background and opinion. Whatever decisions made about how Graffiti will never make people happy whether the circumstance is that Graffiti is art and we can keep it up or that graffiti is vandalism and we need to take it down. Iv’e concluded that regardless of your opinions there will never be a right or wrong.

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