Graffiti – Art or Vandalism?

What comes to mind when you hear the word “Art”? Drawings, Paintings,

Sculpting, and Films are all probable answers. How about graffiti? Few people would

even think of graffiti. The word graffiti connotates vandalism, crime and thus something

wrong to the average person. Graffiti has been labeled by many critics as the lowest form

of art. However, these opinions reject the possibility that graffiti is perhaps the most

expressive art form of today. Graffiti can clutter up walls, but graffiti can also be a way

to represent an idea, establish a social atmosphere, provide political viewpoints, and to

bring color to dismal urban environments.

Modern graffiti started in the 1970s in New York City, in response to the

overwhelmingly monotonous urban environment. Youth of the ghettos and inner-cities

began painting blank walls with colorful pictures and words. Unfortunately, it

immediately got a bad rap, and was seen by outsiders as pure vandalism. Graffiti went

from an expressive tool to a gang weapon, perhaps its worst association. For years after,

gangs used graffiti to mark territory. How could any good come from this?

Graffiti grew in positives ways for those who took it beyond street gangs,

maturing and developing over three decades to become the most in-your-face form of

expression. Expressions varied from graffiti murals to digital design influenced by

graffiti to an art form now recognized as “aerosol art.” Aerosol exhibits now stand next

to oil paint, sculpture, and photography exhibits. Experienced aerosol artists make

outstanding livings from paid projects (such as murals), while other artists choose to

express their talent anonymously. These “hidden” artists are trying to make political or

social statements through art in hopes of kick-starting change. Both sides (the
professional and the underground) have had positive impacts on our world. Two known

artists, Daim, from Germany, and Banksy, from England, are prime examples of each

professional type.

Daim started doing graffiti in 1989. His style of 3D lettering has forever raised

graffiti to a whole new level. Daim has said that he gets his inspiration from his studies

on photorealism; Dali’s surrealist paintings, and Van Gogh’s portrayal of light and shade.

Daim has his own graffiti studio where he and fellow graffiti artists work on large

collaborative murals and canvases. He is one of the most famous, and richest, aerosol

artists in Europe.

Banksy decided to take a different route with his work. Born in Bristol, England,

he is Britain’s most famous -- and notorious -- graffiti artists. Banksy’s work is well

known, yet his identity is not. Only close friends and some family know who he really is.

He is a faceless commentator, who uses mostly stencils to make his mark. Banksy has

done more than painted rats on buildings and stencils of kissing cops, he has put up fake

paintings in museums, dressed zoo animals in orange jumpsuits and handcuffs, and even

written protest pieces on the segregation wall in Palestine. Banksy is anti-government,

anti-capitalist, and anti-war. The police despise him, while the general public is thrilled

by his humorous ploys and paintings. He is a modern-day Robin Hood with a spray can.

Pieces he has done and his few gallery showings (where no one knows if he is present)

have also made him very rich. In Britain, he is as famous as he is anonymous.

Brendan Wells, an art major at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln had this to

say about graffiti: “I don’t think of graffiti as art or vandalism. Graffiti done in the right

places, back alleys and abandoned buildings, places people don’t have to go, and graffiti
done with skill and sense is a good thing. It creates something good to look at. Graffiti is

not art, it’s just a way to make something look good.” Others would argue that any

unauthorized printing on public property is illegal and therefore vandalism.

Is all this just crime, supported by people, paid for by individuals; or is it a way to

makes the surrounding environment more aesthetically pleasing? Graffiti is more than

words on a wall to some. It is about expression and making the urban world more

visually pleasing. In a society with more and more rules constricting one’s freedom,

graffiti is one of the last pure outlets of total expression. There are no rules about how to

do it, just rules against doing it. Banksy describes his attitudes of graffiti in his book

“Wall and Piece,”:

“Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could

draw wherever they liked; where every street was awash with a million colours

and little phrases; where standing at a bus stop was never boring -- a city that felt

like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of

big business. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall – it’s wet.”

Graffiti can be vandalism. Graffiti can be art. The term is used to cover a broad range of

differing practices. In the end, it comes down the audience, the people who are left to

view the graffiti. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and graffiti is in the hands of the

spray can holder.

CITATIONS

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