Moral Mystery Was Graffiti Vandalism

Graffiti has been around for more than half a decade and practiced worldwide. However there is debate between whether it is a form of art or vandalism. Graffiti artists’ debate that many do not understand the reason most graffiti artist take the risk of incarceration, fines, injuries, and in some cases death to paint a wall. A graffiti artist can have the simple desire to become recognized, or to create a piece that speaks to their audience as a form of self expression. Because graffiti is associated with gangs and acts of destruction to some many cannot see the history and importance graffiti can have on a worldwide scale. Due to the fact that graffiti is usually produced illegally, meaning it is

Most people can argue that there is a fine distinction between what is recognized as art and vandalism. The individual is often faced with uncertainty when the topic of graffiti arises. The public often portray graffiti as a destructive act towards his or her surroundings however; graffiti can also be considered a form of self-expression. Many questions can be made pertaining to the graffiti movement, but the main question is graffiti a crime or an art? The answers lie in the complex phrase of “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.

If you walk through almost any city, the buildings, bridges, and any other available spaces are seemingly filled with colors, picture, and words that are not part of the original architecture. This graffiti, which is a mix of tags, stencils, pieces, and freestyle, seems to have almost taken over cities across the world. Some of this graffiti, such as tags, are eyesores, but some pieces, such as the High Line “Love Is the Answer” and “Kiss” murals in New York City, are sites that have become iconic pieces of artwork. Unfortunately, pieces like these are also starting to be covered to a seemingly astronomical rate, which is causing outrage among those who visited to them.

According to Boyd, through Graffiti is essential to understand as a form of art that crosses the boundaries of location, method, and motivation. He acknowledges that graffiti might include “racist remarks, empty slogans and illegal signatures.”(Boyd 251) Boyd’s piece is also very informative because according to the author, there are two methods for creating this form of art: murals and tagging. The most popular one is tagging because it can be found almost everywhere from fence posts to trains, street walls to buses. The main goal of graffiti writers is to put their signature tags in places to be recognized by their

The roots of graffiti started about 1971 by a Greek American who tagged “TAKI-183” in all New York subway system, he declared that he “used graffiti to create an identity in which he is certain about” (Fortuna 3), then it emerged all around America and the world. (David 72)

Most people think of graffiti as vandalism or the defacing of private property by wild teenagers with spray cans. I had never really thought about graffiti or art for that matter until I found myself defending something I didn’t know about because I liked what I saw on the sidewalk in Memphis, Tennessee. Now, that’s sounds crazy but I did my best to explain using simple words that I hoped they would understanding.

Graffiti is the act of inscribing or drawing on walls for the purpose of communicating a message to the general public. The term comes from the Greek term "Graphein," which means to write. Graffiti has been around since men first started drawing pictures in caves. However, the focus of this paper is not on pre-historic or amateur graffiti, but on the modern hip-hop graffiti movement that began in the late 1960 's. The graffiti has two versions: a "legal" aspect, in which artists are able to spray paintings and murals of great spectacle and technical. The illegal side, is where they express their painting in public spaces such as schools, metros, trains, posters, and wall Streets, etc. Graffiti are a poor choice for people who practiced this objective because it deny people in follow good roads which is seen a bad self-expression and they also may be expensive, putting pressure on low-income families. Controversial, secrecy, and taboo are some points that connect with graffiti argument where graffiti has changed over the years.

Graffiti was once deemed as an empowering art form when it derived in the late 1960’s. It brought attention to many social and political issues through the use of various such as spray paint in urban places. As time

The foremost image that appears in the minds of most people when they hear the word graffiti is colorful illustrations of undecipherable words and the depictions of famous figures or caricatures throughout history. As an art form, graffiti has embraced said traits for the purpose of aesthetic appeal. Artists work on creating illustrations using a wall as a canvas and think of creative ways to create images of their likings, using different types of paint, for people to appreciate. In a lot of cases,

Graffiti is a way to show a passion of an artistic form. “In a recent interview, the artist and political activist known as Bansky observed: “I’ve learned from experience that a painting isn’t finished when you put down your brush – that’s when it starts. The public reaction is what supplies meaning and

This negative shadow on the art form of graffiti has caused the decline of the graffiti movement. As many have predicted, “graffiti may eventually disappear” (“The Writing's on the Wall; Graffiti”). Graffiti has already begun to dwindle from what was once a flourishing art movement, to an almost disesteemed hobby. However, a soiled reputation is not the only culprit in the murder of authentic graffiti. The occupation of the current generation with technology and social media has caused many artists to focus solely on selling their work and gaining attention through social networking platforms. Another, perhaps more common, reason for the decline is the improvement of police work and punishments for those indulging in the illegal form of graffiti (“The Writing's on the Wall; Graffiti”). Because of this decline in authentic and prohibited graffiti, artists have channeled their work into new forms and established their own artistic community.

Apparently ,moving from prehistoric time since now , graffiti has undergone a complex process of development under impact of various factors ,like growth of civilization , advancing technologies , public shifts, and socio - political events. In fact contemporary graffiti presents a great range of types and styles , each differ in technical aspects of production from one side , and conceptual approaches from the other . Contemporary graffiti may provide a great deal of data on social climate of any specific locale

I have always loved art, and wanted to read about it from its pros to cons, one of the arts are graffiti art. Graffiti art is something special, the way it contains meaning, message or a personal confession that merges with colors and drawings, all over the way to destruction of others property and cause environmental and social problems, this research will examine the rise of graffiti, the legal and political power, social control, and writers and painters resistance to them and explores the resistance against graffiti.

In modern societies, there are ongoing debates among multiple stakeholders regarding the nature and acceptability of graffiti as a sustainable and decent art form. Having gained immense popularity in urban environments, graffiti has always been on the verge between art and vandalism. The reason for such controversial perceptions lies in the definition of graffiti and its origins. As Campos defines it, “graffiti and street art could be considered a practice through which individuals appropriate the city” and whose nature “is consistently described as subversive” (Campos, 2015, p. 17) and illicit. That is, the subculture of graffiti implies the element of illicit artistic expression placed in public view. While the original purpose of graffiti – as the practice was born in Philadelphia of the 1960s – was tagging through specific styles of writing and lettering, further development of the culture (Mettler, 2012, p. 252). At the same time, development of graffiti form lettering focused on the writer’s name to more elaborate forms including imagery and – as street art – making it the focus have raised even more debate regarding graffiti. This essay will argue that graffiti is a decent form of visual art involving skills, artistic vision and sociocultural context: that is, not all graffiti works are vandalism, for many of them occupy public spaces with the purpose of decoration or communication of socially significant messages. As an example, the graffiti created by Futura

The world is being swept up in a new artistic frenzy that brings color and culture to the streets of cities. It goes by many names, such as guerilla art, urban art, or neo-graffiti, but it is ultimately known as street art. Street art is now becoming a very prominent way for artists to show their opinions of the world and politics, and also gives the artist a public place to show their talent. It may not be a very old form of art, but art of its kind is beginning to be recognized around the world. There is a very large debate about whether certain kinds of street art may be considered vandalism and graffiti, or artistic and decorative. Regardless, street art is the voice of a generation that depicts many of the different life styles of the