Graffiti - Art or a Selfish Act of Vandalism?
03-29-2011
- by Cesar Delgado, Staff Mumbler
Graffiti is evolving. Some of the earliest graffiti started out as cave paintings in prehistoric times. But what has it become today? Ugly tagging is painted in buses, tunnels, freeway under and overpasses, and just about anywhere that you can think of. Many taggers hide their criminal activity in the night. But is all graffiti the work of junior thugs, or is there more to it?

According to businessknowhow.com "Graffiti, cops say, is a product of gang activity. Although not all graffiti is gang-related, gangs use graffiti as a means to identify members and territory, which is called 'tagging.' Graffiti also promotes gang conflict and drug sales."

By definition, modern day graffiti is "graphics applied to surfaces in a manner that constitutes vandalism" per Wikipedia. There is no denying that, just like an old car left rotting on your front lawn, or neighbors that never take care of their property, graffiti makes your neighborhood look bad, drives away patrons of local businesses, and is like a giant billboard promoting other criminal activities.

But there is a growing graffiti culture that actually supports and promotes certain forms of it. Taggers are being portrayed as pseudo-celebrities on the net, and there are various websites that display their "art". Even the illegal tagging on these websites is being celebrated and some destruction of peoples' personal property is being touted as very positive when referring to the defacing of peoples' houses, vehicles, and public property. One has to wonder if the bloggers that write these articles would be so enthusiastic about the tagger's work if it was done to his or her own vehicle.

Changing young peoples' attitudes about graffiti is almost futile because a lot of them don't see what they're doing as wrong. If they do think that it's wrong, they feel like it's a victimless crime when they're tagging a commercial building or a wall. milwaukee.gov says that, "The sheer arrogance and uncaring recklessness of graffiti criminals deserves tough penalties from the criminal justice system." So, it's largely an uphill battle. Since tagging is also a main staple of gangs marking their territory, the removal efforts are difficult and sometimes dangerous. An article on savemurals.com stated that, "Khalid Shah, director of Stop the Violence, a gang intervention program" cited the closing of a Homeboy Industries program, "that put gang members to work removing graffiti after two young people were shot to death while cleaning walls."

The bottom line is that there are real street artists, and some damn good ones, that do murals and other pieces, some with only spray paint. The difference is that artists don't vandalize public or private property and they don't disrespect other artists by painting over their art. Graffiti is forced on people, illegally, and people have to see it whether they like it or not. That's not art. Nor would it be art if I built a pyramid on your front lawn out of trash cans, without your permission.