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Andrea Sandles
Instructor Newsom
English 1020
20 March, 2012
Graffiti: A New Art Form Arises
Graffiti is a simple word that can create a bad taste in one’s mouth or stir up the
imagination of someone else; one either likes it or does not and people are not afraid to publicly
voice their opinions. The controversy that follows graffiti has been going on for decades. Many
people do not like graffiti because they believe it defaces property and makes cities appear
rundown. The appearance of a rundown city aggravates citizens because they take pride in their
city and get offended when someone spray-paints all over buildings, streets, subways, etc.places that are seen by the public each and every day. On the other hand, there are companies
and museums that support graffiti as a new art form. In 2011, the Museum of Contemporary Art
(MOCA) in Los Angeles hosted “the ‘first major U.S. museum survey of graffiti and street art’
Sponsored in part by Nike and Levi's, ‘Art in the Streets’ celebrates a form of cultural expression
that America has collectively spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to suppress during the
last 40 years” (Beato). Graffiti is taking a new turn in today’s society. Some companies such as
MOCA, Nike, and Levi’s are trying to remove the association graffiti has with being trashy or
rundown and are trying to put it in a better light. They are showing people graffiti is a new art
form that is arising regardless if the public wants it to or not, so the public might as well embrace
it. Graffiti is considered art when it evokes an emotional response, makes a statement either by
words or pictures towards an audience that is not limited to the artist and his friends, and it is not
considered art when the objective is to ruin property and when another rule is violated.
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Art can make one shudder, weep, or go in awe and graffiti has the same effect on people.
Art can be phenomenal or less than average depending on the artist and how skilled he is, and
again, the same for graffiti. When people take one step into the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in
Rome, Italy their heart stops and they inhale a huge amount of air in aspiration- they are star
struck by the magnificent beauty that Michelangelo Buonarroti painted on each and every inch of
the chapel’s ceiling. Michelangelo is especially infamous for his “Creation of Adam” painting on
the chapel’s ceiling and people all over the world desire to go to Rome just to take a that breathtaking step into the Sistine Chapel for this specific painting. Many people have this same desire
and out-of-body experience when they see a graffiti design, especially one by Banksy. Banksy is
a widely known graffiti artist in today’s society and is known to strike a mostly in London,
England but ventures from country to country in order to make controversial statements through
his graffiti. Martin Bull, author of Banksy Location & Tours, had an enthralling moment when he
was graffiti hunting:
I’m on the top deck (the best seat in the house for a graf spotting!) as my bus goes past
the site. I half-heartedly turn to look at the wall. OMG! I jump up, ring the buzzer, and
stop the bus. I’m excited not just because it’s new, but because it has Banksy
metaphorically written all over it (although many amazingly doubted it at first!) and most
importantly because it was the first piece of graffiti for months to actually stop me in my
tracks, to move me, and to make me fall in love again. The quality was amazing, and the
subject poignant.
Bull literally stopped a bus in order to see a Banksy original at first-hand. He was awe- struck for
and having an out-of-body experience for a piece of graffiti just as anyone does when walking
into the Sistine Chapel. Graffiti artists have the power to move people through their eye-catching
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artwork just as much as classical artists still move people today. If graffiti can invoke an
emotional response from people just as much as a painting from a well renowned artist like
Michelangelo then graffiti should be considered art.
Besides invoking an emotional response, in order to be considered art, graffiti needs to
make a statement using words or pictures. Taki 183, a graffiti artist known to have started the
graffiti movement, spray-painted his name all over subway stations and placed stickers of his
name in various places across New York. Even though it is just his name being plastered
everywhere he was making a bold statement against politician campaigns, “‘They’re putting it
everywhere;’ he says. ‘So why shouldn't I? That was my sixteen-year-old rationale’” (Beato). In
Taki 183’s mind, if politicians can post their names on signs and hang up posters on buildings in
various cities then why should he not be able to? He is making a strong statement for equality.
Everyone should be able to partake in the same activities, whether it is even as simple as being
able to have a name on a sticker and sticking it somewhere in the city to promote one’s self. Taki
183 just took a more creative route and decided to spray-paint the outside of subways instead of
displaying posters inside of them. Either way, Taki 183 used words to make a statement through
his use of graffiti.
The statement graffiti artists make not only has to be through words or pictures but it also
needs to be targeted towards a broad audience. If an artist created a picture that only he and his
friends understood then the artwork and the artist would most likely never become famous. Most
artwork makes a current or popular controversial statement so more people can relate to their
piece of art. Creating art that no one can relate to, or understand, is similar to referring to an
inside joke with a friend who is not present in the group when the joke is being told. The
audience would simply stop and make puzzling faces at the person, just as they would to a piece
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of graffiti that is limited to solely the artist and a few others. A graffiti artist who incorporates his
own personal feelings while making public statements through his graffiti is well known in
France. In an interview with this graffiti artist, known as C215, the artist described his work of
“broken people”-meaning the homeless, refugees and orphans- to be:
… representing the people that really belong to the streets, and kids who have no chance
in life. I am an orphan myself and I am quite obsessed by splitting of personality and
sensation of emptiness: I am supposed to have a borderline personality, and cutting
stencil then painting is like a personal therapy about my own fears, my own ghosts.
(Street Art London)
There are many orphans, homeless people, and refugees in larger cities, where most graffiti is
found. Many of these citizens can relate to either knowing these “broken people” or maybe they
are one too. “Broken people” create controversy in larger cities since they are also more
prominent there. The public disagrees on how to lower the amount of them and in the end usually
nothing significantly gets done to fix the problem. Being an orphan himself, C215 decides to
stencil intricate portraits of “broken people” to remind his audience how sad and fearful the
broken life can be instead of taking the typical route and arguing with others about the subject.
C215’s graffiti designs are a reflection of himself but they also relate to a broader audience than
just him, which means that C215 applies to the rules of making a statement and having the
statement speak to a larger audience.
Graffiti cannot be considered art when the objective is to simply ruin property, which is
what most people believe the point of graffiti to be. Most graffiti artists want to make a statement
and choose to do so through spray-painting to ensure their work is seen by everyone. This is
where the great debate on graffiti comes into play. Most people believe that graffiti is vandalism
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because the artists are spray-painting on property that does not belong to them, and this can be
agreed upon if the artist does not follow the other rules stated above, however, the public should
embrace the graffiti as beautiful and original artwork as long as all the rules are met. For
example, graffiti on a wall of a building that only has words or lines that do not even make up a
true statement or picture cannot be considered art. On the other hand, graffiti artists like the ones
mentioned in the above paragraphs, Banksy, Taki 183, C215 do create graffiti that is considered
art because their purpose is not to deface property. They take advantage of certain locations to
express their ideas, but not all graffiti artists have to be well-known in order to create graffiti that
is considered art. Examine the differences here:
vs.
Neither of these pieces of graffiti were by well-known graffiti artists but one can be considered
art and the other is just meant to ruin property. The picture on the left does not have any clearly
written words and cannot even be identified to make up a picture. There is not a statement of any
kind since the lines do not make words or a picture of any sort. No audience can be identified
since there is no statement to be made towards anyone. Lastly, the only emotional response to be
invoked is tears or anger from the property owner when they discover this destruction of
property and lack of artistic abilities on the side of the building. On the other hand, the picture on
the right can be considered graffiti art. The lines on this property make up a definite picture
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consisting of a crazed looking squirrel holding a can of spray-paint with more cans lying about
around him. The squirrel also has a speech bubble above him making the statement, “Graffiti is
bad!!!”, even though from an analytical standpoint the squirrel is most likely a satire on antigraffiti believers since the he is meant to be shown as the culprit who spray-painted the scene to
begin with. The picture is not only following the rule of making a statement but is also following
the “invoke an emotional response” rule as well. Since the target audience is graffiti artists and
people who take sides in the debate (another rule followed) this squirrel and his anti-graffiti
speech bubble will stir up a response from anyone in the target group who sees this piece of art.
In other words, the left photo is not considered art because it does not follow all of the rules and
is purposefully placed on the building to ruin the property while the right photo is a piece of art
because it follows all of the rules considerately.
Graffiti is considered art when all of the following rules are obeyed: an emotional
response must arise, it makes a statement either by words or pictures, the audience is of broad
range, and when the objective is not to ruin property. Many high quality graffiti artists obey all
of these rules and create phenomenal art that can be sold for high prices, like in the MOCA
graffiti event. Even though most artists follow these basic rules and even though major
companies are beginning to support the act of graffiti, many people spray-paint solely to ruin
property and this is giving the name of graffiti a dreadful reputation. Famous graffiti artists such
as Banksy, Taki 183, and C215 have worked hard to create art that is well known to the public.
To say the very least about these wonderful graffiti artists, Banksy invokes emotional responses
around the world, Taki 183 makes discrete statements by just by using his name, and C215
relates a broad audience while firmly expressing his own feelings . To them they use the world as
their palette and do not focus on selling their art for money and wealth, instead they focus on
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selling their ideas by placing them in the most visible spaces for the public, right in front of
everyone’s eyes on the streets that are walked on every night and day.
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Works Cited
Beato, Greg. "Spray Paint the Walls: Graffiti, Art, and Advertising." Reason Aug. 2011: 68.
Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Mar. 2012.
Bull, Martin. Banksy, Locations & Tours. Oakland, CA: PM, 2011. Print.
"Street Art London." Street Art London – Fresh London Street Art, Graffiti & Culture. Geo
Street Art, 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2012