Graffiti Art Essay

For as long as humans have been able to write, people have been writing on walls. The Romans wrote on the buildings of the towns they conquered, and even before words were used, the cave men painted on walls; hence, the Romans called this writing phenomenon graffiti. Graffiti is defined as “the act of inscribing or drawing on walls” for the purpose of communicating a message to the general public (Merriam Webster). The term comes from the Greek word "Graphein," which means 'to write.' As the times have changed, so have the forms of writing on the walls has taken. Today, a few different classifications separate graffiti such as the gang graffiti that street gangs use to mark their turf, graffiti that people write to express political views, and graffiti art, which is the new form of graffiti that has just emerged in the past twenty-five years. In the urban city settings, graffiti has taken a vibrant, bold, and often illegal presence. Recently, the question is raised as to whether any form of graffiti can be considered art. Is it vandalism when it is placed on the side of a building or car, but art when it is on a canvas on someone's wall or in a gallery? Looking at these two views of graffiti, graffiti should be considered art because it encompasses three significant components of what defines “art”; graffiti art demands technical skills, showcases the artist’s worldview, and thrives within the traditional art community.

First of all, the consideration of any form of art is that it demands technical and artistic skills. Not only does Graffiti meets these requirements, but also introduce new expertise with its own style in the art world. Slowly, but surely, the art community recognizes that graffiti is an valid form of art even th...

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...lic were more knowledgeable of what graffiti consisted of. Graffiti should be categorized as art because of the required skillful elements, the expressive display of artwork from a particular graffiti artist, and the universal acceptance of graffiti as an art. For these reasons, the public’s outlook on graffiti should shift. In order to shift this view of graffiti as vandalism to art, people need to look past the act of the graffiti, and rather invest into the beauty of the art found within graffiti. Change can only occur if the public does not equate artistic graffiti mistakenly with gang graffiti. The sooner the undying reputation of graffiti is dropped, the more the artistic form of graffiti will breathe in the general community. In all, graffiti as an art has a better chance of achieving beyond its neighborhoods if only the public perception of graffiti alters.