Private Property, but is it?

I have seen graffiti many, many times in my life. Sometimes it’s a really pretty vibrant mural, and sometimes it’s a gang sign tag. An act of vandalism is an action involving deliberate destruction or damage to property. When these graffiti artists go around and spray paint on other people’s property, it does not matter if it is the nicest painting of a zebra you have seen, if the property owner didn’t give you permission you don’t have the right to paint on their stuff. And if it is public property you still don’t have the right to paint on buildings unless you get permission from the city, that is why I believe graffiti is straight-out vandalism.

First off we will talk about the facts, graffiti can be pretty and when it is done correctly it can be viewed as a legitimate form of art and beauty. In the first article written by Steve Dolan, he states that fast in the beginning, “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.”(Dolan lines 12,13) He is one hundred and ten percent correct on this if the owners don’t want to have their property touched that is their right, but if they give permission and a beautiful form of art is made that is great for people who do graffiti. Some ask if removing graffiti is doing a disservice to the art community but I don’t think it is, “Maybe if some of the people behind the graffiti art were taken in hand and trained, they could use their artistic skills in more productive ways.” (Dolan 25,26,27) I don’t wish that every person who does graffiti is behind bars, I find forms of it very beautiful and I think if we can take that bad behavior and turn it into good it would be way better for our society and we wouldn’t be disturbing other people.

Second, I want to bring up some facts about graffiti because I know people who do it are very passionate about what they do, but they should know the effects of it. According to the article “Graffiti as Vandalism,” they state some of the cleanup costs due to graffiti, “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.”(Dolan 2,3,4) If graffiti was art why would it be causing people so much money and pain in their lives, I thought art was supposed to be enjoyable not just for the artist but for the viewers as well. Graffiti does not just cause vandalism but it produces more crime as well. According to the article “Graffiti as Vandalism”, “Graffiti sometimes has a wave effect, in which a heavily vandalized area will experience increases in other sorts of crimes as well.” This proves graffiti isn’t just influencing one crime, it is now influencing multiple. It also upsets the view of the city, when people are looking for a new house they do not want to see gang tags and graffiti on the local business walls.

The definition of art is the expression of skill and imagination and producing work primarily for beauty and emotional power. If graffiti was a pure form of art then why would everyone complain about it all the time? I get where these artists come from that are painting murals and such, but you need to follow the basic laws we have in place. Gang tags are completely out of the question, but if you can get permission and use these skills for good I think you should one hundred percent be able to do that, just make sure it is legal.

“graffiti” by Lieutenant Pol is licensed under CC BY 2.0.