Graffiti War

Going back to the original question, what is considered graffiti? McAuliffe and Iveson proposed an idea, “asking whether graffiti is still graffiti if it is taken from its illegal context on the walls of the city and placed in a gallery” (130). In “The Making of Space, Race and Place” by Maggie Dickinson, Sandra Fabara, a writer who was featured in the Brooklyn Museum exhibit, answered this question. Fabara argued that “The pieces in galleries cease to be graffiti because they have been removed from the cultural context that gives graffiti a reason for being, a voice from the ghetto. Authentic graffiti cannot exist in the sanctuary provided by the galleries and museums” (39). She is saying that since the cultural side is being taken away and

The history of the underground art movement known by many names, most commonly graffiti begins in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the mid to late 60's, and started with bombing. The writers who are credited with the first effort are CORNBREAD and COOL EARL. They wrote their names all over the city gaining attention from the community and the local press. Then the movement made way to New York City where the teenagers would write graffiti on the subways. It is unclear whether this concept made way to New York City on purpose or if it was an accident.

Graffiti has been used many times in history to preserve and show political and religious ideas of the past. Street artists are preserving the history that is deemed “illegal” at this time. Graffiti itself is history, and it tells stories as well as preserving cities and adding a creative aspect to everyday life. The “...first forms of scripture and storytelling … were through drawings on walls. Stories passed through generations… were preserved on rocks or walls.” (Lloyd, Alexis). Now street artists are simply doing the same, whether it’s murals, tags, or people just messing around; They are preserving the unique cultures that we have today, or trying to make a name for themselves through art, or portray a political message. 85% of graffiti is just tags. (Akbar, Airfa). People's names or words made to look interesting. People trying to preserve their name through art. And this is considered a crime. Splashing your political views on a building through a mural to some people is offensive and the fact that this is illegal is a violation of the 1st amendment. Making graffiti or street art illegal is limiting an expression of people's ideas and religion.

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

Graffiti portrays contemporary sub-cultured art through its versatility and bold attractiveness on the communal grounds. In the 1970s, graffiti was blatantly acknowledged as territorial graffiti where

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.

By definition, graffiti is illegal. It is also considered vandalism because public or private property is intentionally destroyed, but in Alex Boyd’s blog “In Defense of Graffiti”, he clearly conveys his argument about how graffiti shows qualities of value and shouldn’t be criticized on impulse. Even though many people have seen graffiti as something to be condoned, punishable, and terrorizing, it is actually just another form of expression, communication, art, and point of view.

Generally most people look and take graffiti as a form of destruction and wanting to cause violence, but in the artist’s mind they want to be creative and help the people around them by making art to cheer someone up or create a sense of creativity in others. They don’t do it to go to jail or because they want to pay a fine they do it because they are open minded and creative. For instance, “A lot of attention is given to the ‘broken window’ theory, which says that signs of disorder like petty vandalism, fare jumping … and yes, graffiti, open the window to larger crimes,” Verel told The Huffington Post. “But little is paid to the ways graffiti is harnessed for good in a form that’s both constructive and authentic”(Patrick Verel). They are taking this broken windows theory too far and only saying it can cause bigger crimes. Some graffiti artists are trying to uplift the neighborhoods and the people they live around with creative art. Also not all graffiti is bad enough to want artists to commit a crime. While making this art or graffiti I don’t think that these artist are trying to harm the buildings in any way, but they should ask for permission if they aren’t allowed to be painting on these buildings. This is to let the owner of the building know that they mean no harm to the environment or their workplace. For example, “Adam Cooper, cultural strategy officer for the mayor of London, thinks

This movie took place after graffiti had been so staunchly looked down upon. Craig Castleman supports this in his article “The Politics of Graffiti”, when he goes through

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)

Graffiti or more commonly known in modern day as street art has a deep rooted history dating back to early civilizations. Historians have credited graffiti displaying crucial parts of early civilization and how people did things. Graffiti has been recorded all the way back to Pompeii in rock carvings that recorded the everyday life of many citizens and allowed a way to display actions. Graffiti has also displayed substantial importance in the medieval time period in allowing people against the church power to show self-reasoning and create public statements that were denoted by church officials (CConnel). Through the years graffiti has evolved into a more commonly practiced form of art in which people display emotions or beliefs. This has created great social movements throughout the world with such figures as Sheppard Fairey, Banksy, and many others. This shows some of the importance that graffiti has

This aspect of hip hop culture became so engrained within “codes of behavior, secret gathering places, slang, and aesthetic standards,” and thus had the most racially ethnic artists, which is why these people were mostly targeted by police for these actions. Taki 183’s graffiti was an act of political resistance against the “cleaning up” of New York City streets, which was a euphemism for whitening these neighborhoods economically and physically, with the displacement of poor, people of color. Specifically, his work is called tagging because the artist is “making his or her presence known and proclaiming his or her identity through a unique mark” (Orejuela, 2015, pg. 17). The artist of this graffiti artwork, and others like it were also a blatant display by people of color peacefully fighting back the state for its intended demise and who at the time, spent thousands of dollars to rid the streets of these pieces of artwork because of its direct connection to people of color. This work of resistance was so successful because other graffiti artists would try to compete with Taki 183’s work and thus, they too would create their own piece of work. This then made it almost impossible for the city to paint over every piece of work, but this also made it more dangerous for the artists themselves, as the penalties for graffiti became even more severe as people of color became even more policed. This artist specifically, made this artwork most popular as he performed it during such a tense time and received major exposure by the New York media. Phase 2 was infamous for creating bubble writing, also known as softies, but was also a b-boy. He also rapped and graffitied during the 1970s when the state of New York was in a war with the residents of color and the lower class. Phase 2 art is referred to

The cutting edge of the public art development, connected with the hip-hop society of breakdancing and rap music, began with African-American and Latino teenagers in Philadelphia and New York in the late 1960s (MacDonald 1). At that time graffiti to most, was considered to be a form of art work. Regardless of those that thought of it as art, there were and are still numerous individuals that loathe the graffiti movement. Works of art have been dependably charming for ages, as it is a method for self-expression and inventiveness. Artistic expressions have advanced in many ways, such as public canvases offering an approach to modern day unique artwork. Graffiti is progressively turning into a hobby. Although one of the major controversies of graffiti surround the statement that it is not art and considered vandalism, graffiti allow artists to display grateful meanings, skills and expressions to the public.

The origin and history of graffiti is not what one might expect. Believed to have been created by a Philadelphia high school student named Cornbread in 1967, it was a bold effort to catch the attention of a girl (De Melker). In this same time period, graffiti sprung up in New York as well. It was “one among many forms of social protest” during