Graffiti- Art or senseless vandalism?

[a-4-year-old]

Whatnow?

they call this "art"

[The Geologist]

Tell me why it isn't art, for starters. 

It's far from "random lines".  There are aspects of color contrast, shading, and depth that make it much more than a random attack on a wall with a can of spray paint.  There's a lot of effort put in there. 

Seriously, do you need a recognizable shape or figure to call it art?  What about the abstract?

[jap_man]

it's all too easy to say well I like the well done graffiti but tagging looks ugly, but the real truth is that without tagging, you would never have the better pieces (except for maybe stencils).
 
Also when you see a legal piece (ie one on the side of a shop to attract business) it's never as good as one done illegally. Of course when looking form an artistic aesthetics point of view, it does look better because they have been granted the time to do it to the best of their ability and more often than not they are profiting one way or another.

As opposed to somebody who does graffiti out of his own motivation and his own love for it and has to go to much greater lengths to produce something good, with incentives that are not linked to money. Whether it be cutting through fences to get into a train yard or coming out at the dead of the night to do a piece. That's not to say every piece along a train line (for example)is well done, but the effort that has gone into it is admirable.

[AntiHero]

I find graffiti a work of art but you see there two kinds of graffiti (My Opinion)Tagging up well that just makes the place look bad but the other kind of graffiti which has all the great affects sometimes with pictures now that what I call art but graffiti is a crime if you do not a permit to write on the wall...I my self are a graffiti artist but I do not do it on my block ;b

Here a picture of the city I live in...Its building were you can tag up with the permission of the owner of the building

BTW the building name is called 5Point

[Smegma]

Bombing a city is the only respectable form of graffiti.

[tehsnipah]

This is shitty.



This is the true grafitti.





**Source from google ~_~**

[jrgp]

tehsnipa..... /facepalm

Now this is quality graffiti:


http://flickr.com/photos/neave/108210304/
http://flickr.com/photos/neave/105982727/
http://flickr.com/photos/neave/105982726/
http://flickr.com/photos/neave/108207377/
http://flickr.com/photos/neave/108207996/
http://flickr.com/photos/neave/108207799/

In reguards to topic title, I believe when graffiti is used in an art form (as above) or in psychadellic abstract form, it's art and should be legal. It should be illegal when people draw body parts and weirdass sayings in random places, like POO in 10 foot tall letters on billboards.

[N. Escalona]

Laws on graffiti should be kept as they currently are in most parts of the world. It's allowable only when given explicit permission, or on your own property. There's nothing special legally or morally about graffiti; if you do it without permission then it's defacing property without the owner's consent and punishable just like anything else.

[jrgp]

Laws on graffiti should be kept as they currently are in most parts of the world. It's allowable only when given explicit permission, or on your own property. There's nothing special legally or morally about graffiti; if you do it without permission then it's defacing property without the owner's consent and punishable just like anything else.

To be honest, I think artistic graffiti should be allowed on old buildings or under bridges, etc, gas stations in bad areas, but not on office buildings, grocery stores, fancy restaurants, or other "formal" places.

[N. Escalona]

Laws on graffiti should be kept as they currently are in most parts of the world. It's allowable only when given explicit permission, or on your own property. There's nothing special legally or morally about graffiti; if you do it without permission then it's defacing property without the owner's consent and punishable just like anything else.

To be honest, I think artistic graffiti should be allowed on old buildings or under bridges, etc, gas stations in bad areas, but not on office buildings, grocery stores, fancy restaurants, or other "formal" places.

Would you make inartistic graffiti illegal in those same places?

[jrgp]

Laws on graffiti should be kept as they currently are in most parts of the world. It's allowable only when given explicit permission, or on your own property. There's nothing special legally or morally about graffiti; if you do it without permission then it's defacing property without the owner's consent and punishable just like anything else.

To be honest, I think artistic graffiti should be allowed on old buildings or under bridges, etc, gas stations in bad areas, but not on office buildings, grocery stores, fancy restaurants, or other "formal" places.

Would you make inartistic graffiti illegal in those same places?

Yes.

[N. Escalona]

Who would you entrust with the authority to determine what is art and what is not? To determine what is a formal place and what is not?

A system like that is ripe for nepotism, graft, and all sorts of corruption. To say nothing of the violation of property rights.

[excruciator]

Who would you entrust with the authority to determine what is art and what is not? To determine what is a formal place and what is not?

A system like that is ripe for nepotism, graft, and all sorts of corruption. To say nothing of the violation of property rights.

what if the people is in charge of that?

[Hundkeex]

Streetart > Graffiti

[N. Escalona]

what if the people is in charge of that?

How would you implement that? Have the entire population vote? We can't bother every citizen for something so trivial and local.

[TBDM]

Streetart > Graffiti

graffiti = street art.

dumbass.


also, REVERSE GRAFFITI is awesome.

[tehsnipah]

?? What's that?

[excruciator]

what if the people is in charge of that?

How would you implement that? Have the entire population vote? We can't bother every citizen for something so trivial and local.

Dunno, if too many people in that district complain about the same thing, get rid of it.
Doesn't have to be federal issue.

[N. Escalona]

The only problem I have with that system is that it socializes everyone's property, such that the population can vote on whether it may be defaced or not. Even if the graffiti is crazy artistic, it's still property defacement and the owner of that property has the right to refuse it.

Unless you actually are proposing a form of communism in which case that a whole 'nother topic.

[Hundkeex]

Streetart > Graffiti

graffiti = street art.

dumbass.


also, REVERSE GRAFFITI is awesome.

Wow, it was sooo wrong to picking up this subject in the nerd forum.
Streetart i waaaay different then graffiti. Graffiti is writing your ugly name on the wall. Streetart is based on painting characters, putting up stickers, posters,makin stencils, adbusting and so on.


Do not talk about any urbanart if you havnt experienced it outside your computer, folks.