itimate complaints about the behavior of some individuals should not be expressed in this manner, they are to be judged within the walls of a courtroom not on the walls of a bathroom.Another reason why people engage in graffiti is to shape their identities. They wish to leave a mark in a permanent environment exclaiming to the rest of the world that they exist, that even though their voices may be lost before politicians, parent, and peers they are real and the spraypaint is proof of this. This form of graffiti is easily passed off as mere vandalism and considered an annoyance to our society but when viewed with more compassion, it becomes clearer how important of an outlet this form of graffiti is. Especially for today’s youth (a generation that often feels insignificant) it is psychologically important for them to have solid, material evidence of their own existence. Correlated with identity-based graffiti is another type called tagging. Tagging refers to types of graffiti that “range from stylized signature [tags] to mural-size [pieces] that elaborately blend fanciful script, cartoon characters and messages with the artist’s street name” (Beaty 43). This is a questionable form of expression for it does not actually exhibit a need for acknowledgment but rather a recreational engagement, an act of boldly testing the boundaries of the law in an attempt to see how much the vandals can get away with. When a mark is made purely for selfish entertainment it ceases to be a creative work and becomes an eyesore. Tags are not tailored for a society to appreciate but rather to accept as just something a group of delinquent kids did during the night in an act of senseless rebellion thereby giving younger generations and true graffiti artists a bad reputation.The only truly respectable group of graffiti artists are the graffiti muralists. This group is not infallible for they are still going against the law and the...
