Graffiti—Crime or Art?
According to Dictionary.com, “Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form.” Isn’t that what graffiti is—self expression? However, graffiti isn’t considered art to most people, it’s still seen as childish vandalism. More importantly street art is a crime to authority. Most street art makes a statement--it’s a piece of the artist. Graffiti is self expression, and should be taken as a serious art form.
There are multiple types of graffiti: Gang graffiti used to “mark turf”, tagger graffiti which is usually just the artist’s symbol or name, conventional graffiti which is just random things painted in public places usually done by teenagers, and ideological graffiti which deals with political/hate street art. To me, the most underrated and artistic style is by far ideological graffiti. Common inspiration in ideological graffiti include, police brutality, racism, and wars.
Over the past 20 years street art has become more than just names scribbled on trains; it’s transformed into a lifestyle. Instead of just spray paint some taggers now use markers and stickers, which has made it easier for the movement to grow into something massive. These people need to be respected as artists, not as criminals.
Of course people have reasons to hate graffiti. Vandalism on private property usually doesn’t seem to go over well with the owners. On top of the vandalism, some of the topics in graffiti can be very controversial. Especially when it mocks our government, but that’s also the great part of street art—no limitations. Although these points are valid, the same people who hate street art often pay to see large billboards and advertisements on our cities. After all, this is our world; we all share it and call it home. We need to respect each other as individuals and appreciate all forms of self-expression.
Street art has impacted so many of our lives. Some graffiti artists are also the same kids who never fit in, or were seen as the “trouble makers”. But through art they found a way to actually express what they feel, which can be difficult for us to do. Even if it’s not as pretty as the Mona Lisa or sounds like Mozart, all art is beautiful because of the meaning it has to the artist. It’s a shame that others can’t see the deeper meaning behind graffiti, and instead all they can focus on is it cluttering up our streets. To me, we need more art around us, we see the same old “stuff” everyday, and that trains us to follow the “set path” that society and our leaders have made. Street art is art not a crime. People get charged for a victimless crime: people get charged for expressing themselves daily. Graffiti is self-expression, and should be taken as a serious art form.
According to Dictionary.com, “Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form.” Isn’t that what graffiti is—self expression? However, graffiti isn’t considered art to most people, it’s still seen as childish vandalism. More importantly street art is a crime to authority. Most street art makes a statement--it’s a piece of the artist. Graffiti is self expression, and should be taken as a serious art form.
There are multiple types of graffiti: Gang graffiti used to “mark turf”, tagger graffiti which is usually just the artist’s symbol or name, conventional graffiti which is just random things painted in public places usually done by teenagers, and ideological graffiti which deals with political/hate street art. To me, the most underrated and artistic style is by far ideological graffiti. Common inspiration in ideological graffiti include, police brutality, racism, and wars.
Over the past 20 years street art has become more than just names scribbled on trains; it’s transformed into a lifestyle. Instead of just spray paint some taggers now use markers and stickers, which has made it easier for the movement to grow into something massive. These people need to be respected as artists, not as criminals.
Of course people have reasons to hate graffiti. Vandalism on private property usually doesn’t seem to go over well with the owners. On top of the vandalism, some of the topics in graffiti can be very controversial. Especially when it mocks our government, but that’s also the great part of street art—no limitations. Although these points are valid, the same people who hate street art often pay to see large billboards and advertisements on our cities. After all, this is our world; we all share it and call it home. We need to respect each other as individuals and appreciate all forms of self-expression.
Street art has impacted so many of our lives. Some graffiti artists are also the same kids who never fit in, or were seen as the “trouble makers”. But through art they found a way to actually express what they feel, which can be difficult for us to do. Even if it’s not as pretty as the Mona Lisa or sounds like Mozart, all art is beautiful because of the meaning it has to the artist. It’s a shame that others can’t see the deeper meaning behind graffiti, and instead all they can focus on is it cluttering up our streets. To me, we need more art around us, we see the same old “stuff” everyday, and that trains us to follow the “set path” that society and our leaders have made. Street art is art not a crime. People get charged for a victimless crime: people get charged for expressing themselves daily. Graffiti is self-expression, and should be taken as a serious art form.