Is Graffiti Art or Vandalism Essay

Is graffiti art or vandalism essay is a type of essay that explains the different ways in which we consider graffiti art or vandalism of people’s property in the community. There has been a lot of debate on whether graffiti should be considered art for a long time. Although considered illegal by the law, many artists have used graffiti to express themselves and to have their voices heard.

What is Graffiti Art (Street Art)?

Before writing a paper on is graffiti art or vandalism essay, we must first define what graffiti art is. The word graffiti is used to describe writings and images that have been painted, scrawled, scratched, or sketched in any form of property. Graffiti art can be a design, mark, figure, or inscription written or drawn on any property owned by the government or on private property.

It is mostly referred to as unauthorized drawing on any surface on public property. A graffiti artist or street artist is considered a rebellious artist since the art is considered vandalism graffiti.

Besides being illegal, some street artists create graffiti that are hideous to look at. The art form looks like children have created it. Self-expression is important in street art but sometimes the street artists creating graffiti do not have the skills to create beautiful pieces.

Is Graffiti Art or Vandalism?

Graffiti cannot be considered an art form because it is unwanted and usually done without permission. It is unpleasant both to the government officials and private property owners who own these properties that graffiti is usually painted on.

Countries all over the world consider the defacing of these properties to be vandalism by graffiti artists.

History of Graffiti Artists

When writing a paper on is graffiti art or vandalism essay, we should first go back to the history of graffiti. In ancient times, simple cave paintings were considered graffiti art. It has been around for many years and is one of the largest art trends to last. Later on, the ancient Romans and Greeks wrote their names and protest poems on buildings to further spread their messages.

Modern graffiti appeared in Philadelphia in the 1960s and reached New York in the late 60s. People began writing their names on buildings and walls in these cities and proceeded to the subway train cars in the 1970s.

In the early days of graffiti, the graffiti artists were part of street gangs that were usually marking their territories with these markings. The word graffiti was first used by the New York Times and the novelist Norman Mailer.

In the 1980s, the mayor of New York, John Lindsay, declared graffiti to be illegal after the artists painted most graffiti on subway train cars. Many artists stopped using the train car as canvases and moved on to using roofs and walls as their canvases.

Many in the public space have since embraced and condemned graffiti. Most people agree that graffiti on other people’s property without permission is illegal but if done with permission, even in public spaces, it can be viewed as an artistic expression.

Different Styles of Graffiti Art

Graffiti has very many forms that add up to the complex mural of the graffiti movement. Below are the different styles that can be seen in public spaces;

A Tag

A tag is usually done in one type of color. It is usually a scribble of a person’s name or the nickname of the person. The purpose of tagging is to mark a person’s territory in a city.

Throw-Up

A throw-up is like a tag but differs in the way it is applied. They apply this type of graffiti using two or three colors and have a 3D dimensional appearance.

A Piece

A piece is a more elaborate version of throw-up. It is mostly larger, multicolored, and multidimensional. These larger pieces require planning to appear more artistic than the previous styles as discussed above.

A Slap Tag

Simple tags are small stickers that have been tagged already and are applied quickly on the surface by using color to bring out the sticker wordings or picture.

Folk Epigraphy

Folk epigraphy has a focused audience, has limited occurrence, and is transient.

Latrinalia

They usually apply this type of graffiti in washrooms. They are usually slander or rhymes.

Gang Related Graffiti

Gangs use graffiti as a symbol of unity, boundaries, or recruitment. It is easier to read and is sometimes used to make threats, extortion, or disrespect other gangs.

The Problem of Graffiti and a Graffiti Artist

An essay on is graffiti art or vandalism should include the problem of graffiti itself. The problem associated with graffiti has existed for quite a while in history. We have considered graffiti vandalism a terrorist act because it involves destroying private properties. Graffiti vandals use spray paint as their primary medium for creating graffiti art. They prefer to remain anonymous and they never offer to pay for the repair of the vandalized property.

In recent history, we have associated graffiti with crimes. Areas with a lot of graffiti have had a negative view since people associate them with drugs, gangs, and crime. People are skeptical about settling or passing through an area that has graffiti on them.

Art forms in art galleries are usually personal to the person viewing them. Art should not be forced on people because not everyone has the same tastes in art form. We consider graffitiing vandalism because the artistic elements that make an art form unique are not present in graffiti.

Art is a human creative skill. The artist learns it in schools and with a lot of practice. To find graffiti that a legitimate artist has done is hard because not all graffiti artists have the natural talent to do art.

What are the Elements of Art?

The elements of art are the building blocks of an art piece. The elements refer to the tools that an artist uses to design and arrange the building blocks of their art forms. Below are the various elements that artists use in their art-making process in is graffiti art or vandalism essay;

• Color
• Value
• Form
• Texture

Disadvantages of Graffiti

In is graffiti art or vandalism essay, it important to look at the disadvantages of graffiti art. Graffiti has been very costly to the government. Government officials have been against graffiti art because it makes them use a lot of money to repair the damages. The repairs of these graffiti art can also cause a tremendous impact on the budget too. A huge amount of the money also goes to preventing this vandalism from happening, making the entire process to be quite pricey.

The graffiti clean-up also raises the tax for taxpayers, which can cause their budgets to be strained. A business that has graffiti painted on them also passes its costs to the customers for repairs. Businesses do this by raising the prices of goods, which makes them expensive, which is not fair.

Spray paint has also caused health concerns for the artists and the people living around the areas where they are used. Spray painting has been one of the common ways in which graffiti artists used to vandalize properties in the local communities.

Another way that graffiti can be seen as negative is that we associate it with gangs and crimes. Police usually find that the communities that have a lot of graffiti have a high rate of crime and gang violence for the people living in these areas.

Buildings that have been ignored by communities run the highest risk of being branded by graffiti. These buildings have always been targeted by gangs or criminals who use them to commit crimes in these areas. Graffiti art cannot be found on a wall in well-built communities.

Graffiti artists usually ignore asking permission to create graffiti art on people’s property. Painting graffiti on walls without the owner’s permission is illegal and a mischievous act from these artists.

Recent History of Graffiti

Mainstream Fame

Street art has become so popular all over the world. Recently, many graffiti artists are getting recognition for their work rising to success and mainstream fame. Examples of such artists are; Bristol’s Banksy’s art, Paris’ ZEVS, and Shephard Fairy. All these artists have used graffiti to rise to fame and have commercial success from their art.

Other graffiti artists who use their own way to spread the other forms of graffiti not allowed or illegal view these famous artists as sellouts. They accuse them of being part of the system that they are trying to protest against with their illegal graffiti.

Complicated pieces by these graffiti artists can also find their way to art galleries. Today, most graffiti artists get inspiration from other art artists and vice versa after the acceptance of graffiti in the mainstream art world.

Legality

That graffiti has been considered vandalism has made it difficult to appreciate the artistic elements of this form of art. Most recently, the acceptance of sanctioned graffiti has created opportunities for young graffiti artists to showcase their pieces in museums, art galleries, and outdoor public spaces.

Part of the motivation that makes artists do illegal graffiti pieces is the adrenaline of causing vandalism on someone else’s property. They feel that doing the illegal art on such properties shows their disagreement and protest with the owners of these properties. This kind of vandalism serves as a direct confrontation with the owner of that property.

Technology and Internet

With the advancement of technology and the internet, graffiti has risen to a new high in the world of art. Many people now have access to unique pieces of graffiti that have been seen to capture many people’s hearts all over the world.

Because of technology, there has been an advancement in graphical tools that assist artists in the creation and dissemination of their works. These specialized computer programs have helped artists like MOMO to come up and better plan out their graffiti pieces. They help these artists prepare their stencils and wheat paste posters that are used in their creation process.

The advancement of photography has helped the graffiti art world to gain recognition from people all over the world. Because of the high-quality lenses installed in these cameras, they capture true and detailed images of these graffiti arts to be distributed to lots of people.

Social media and the internet have also empowered recent graffiti artists by sharing their pieces with people and communities. The documentation of these pieces has made the immortalization of graffiti artists to be at a higher rate than before.

Final Thoughts on Graffiti

Is graffiti art or vandalism essay has a wide range of elements to consider. Graffiti has come a long way from the ancient times of cave painting to the recent trends that have embraced graffiti as an art.

As much as people have now embraced graffiti art as artistic expression, it has not always been this way. For many years, graffiti has been considered vandalism because most artists were using people’s and government property as canvases for their art without permission. They were considered a menace in the local community because of what this illegal art stood for.

Graffiti has been linked to gangs and crime wherever they were found. This is because most of the areas where they were found were dangerous and abandoned. Police in New York marked these areas to be high in crime since lots of graffiti art was used to mark these places as territory areas of gangs or criminals.

The amount of money used to repair these vandalized properties was also a concern to label the art illegal. This is because the artists who used to mark these properties never asked permission from the owners and were never involved in paying for these repairs. Therefore, they were not given the chance to express their art without being arrested.

Today, most graffiti artists have risen to fame status because they have tried to show people that graffiti is an art, just like those in art galleries. They have tried to address the problems that the government and the communities have with graffiti art and changed how people viewed this form of art.

The advancement of technology has also helped these recent graffiti artists to attain fame status. Their pieces have made their way to art galleries and public spaces where they can be appreciated by people with the same likes.

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