Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Art Graffiti as an Artform Graffiti as an Artform The value of any message or work of art, whether it is hanging on the wall of a gallery or a subway, lies on the intensity of the artist’s or vandal’s beliefs. Graffiti is an uncertain issue in respect to its virtue. While the voice of the individual must never be lost in a society of shouts growing larger and louder every second; graffiti is such a public medium that its integrity must be of great concern. Graffiti is a vast wasteland of indefinite opinions. Foremost graffiti is illegal and a form of vandalism, it invades peoples privacy and destroys their property. However, graffiti can be a means by which one may permanently express one’s self. It has the potential to convey a powerful, relevant message. Therefore the merit of graffiti is dependant on the circumstances present, how it affects society, and the purpose for which it is created. Graffiti serves several different purposes; it is a marker serving as proof of identity for some individuals, for others it is a form of vulgar recreation. The wall of one building may serve as a public record, a confessional and an art gallery at the same time. The most dejected application of graffiti is illustrated in the story of a High School student, Katy Lyle, who was emotionally traumatized by the presence of disgraceful, fictional writing transcribed on the wall of the boy’s bathroom pertaining to her sex life. This case clearly shows the damaging effects of graffiti as the crude remarks ripped her social life apart. The writing was completely void of worth, its intentions were to simply single out and destroy the individual to which it pertained. A similar incident occurred at Brown University as a list of notorious rapists was written on the wall of a bathroom exaggerated into an anti-testosterone billboard. These are not acts of expression they are personal attacks administered in a manner favorable to feelings of helplessness and pain. Even legitimate 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 will of society yet they are breaking these laws in the interest of a nobler pursuit than entertainment. They create graffiti in the interest of art for the enjoyment of society and to publish their work. The graffiti muralist’s work ranges from artistically pleasing pictures to thought provoking scenes in the turmoil surrounding them. They are people who see the problems in their world and work to change them for the better. However interesting or well done a piece of graffiti may be, there is still a price that one must pay. Often this price is in dollars (up to four billion per year) which individuals and citizens as a whole must pay to have graffiti erased. Yet sometimes this price is paid in blood of the vandals themselves such as in the shooting of two Hispanic men by William Masters after he found them writing graffiti on an overpass. This incident illustrates the changing attitudes of people towards graffiti as they now see it as a greater problem that has become the average citizen’s responsibility. William Masters remarks, “We are coming back to the point where people are responsible for protecting each other and themselves.” “We spent most of the last 40 years letting the police handle it. We were told to be a good victim and the police would come along. We’ve got to change that attitude.”(A-10). Graffiti is now under the reputation as an attack on the average citizen for they are the one is paying for it whether it is directly through them or through tax increases. In a society forever growing more obsessed with money a price tag of approximately four billion dollars plus per year makes it difficult for an average citizen to care about artistic integrity or the loneliness of today’s youth. This tired attitude towards graffiti has opened up a new market for the prevention and removal of vandalism. Because of the bad reputation of graffiti brought on by the petty works of the individuals who find it so necessary to proclaim their “love” to another by scribing “Joe + Betty True Love Forever” on a road overpass, ruins the appreciation for the true artists who develop such intriguing murals. There should be no reason why one cannot create a work of art that is mind stimulating and thought provoking on the wall of a building surrounded by the desolate urban jungle. Bibliography: Works Cited Bayliss, George P. “Old Graffiti Adds New Chapter To Ellis Island Story” The Buffalo News 26 Mar. 1989: A-16 Beaty, Jonathan. “Zap! You’ve Been Tagged!” Time 10 Sept. 1990: 43 Chirag, Matt. “An Apocryphal History of Graffiti” 73 (xxx): 7 pp. Online Internet. 3 Nov. 1996 Garmire, Elsa & Lui, Catherine. “Paint Removal Using Lasers” Applied Optics 20 July 1995: 4409 Hertzel, Laurie. “A Nice Girl Tortured By Vicious Graffiti” The Buffalo News 30 Jan. 1993: C-9 Lindlaw, Scott. “Slaying of Vandal Strains Ties in Graffiti-Weary Community” The Buffalo News 19 Feb. 1995: A-10 Reese, K.M. “Chemistry Teacher Patents Antigraffiti Coating” Chemistry & Environment Journal 10, July 1995: 64 Starr, Mark. “The Writing On The Wall” Newsweek 26 Nov. 1990: 84 Warner, Gene. “Vandal Defaces Poignant Mural On City’s East Side” The Buffalo News x xxx x: x Word Count: 1050
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