Graffiti is writing or
drawings that has
been
scribbled,
scratched on a wall or
other surface, often in
a public place, with
examples dating back
to Ancient Egypt and
Ancient Greece
The ancient Romans carved graffiti on walls
and monuments. Ancient graffiti displayed
phrases of love declarations, political rhetoric,
and simple words of thought compared to
today's popular messages of social and
political ideals.
Wet with cool dew drops
Fragrant with perfume
from the flowers
Came the gentle breeze
Jasmine and water lily
Dance in the spring
sunshine
Contemporary graffiti
Graffiti writing is often seen
as having become
intertwined with hip hop.
Graffiti have long appeared
on building walls, in
latrines, railroad boxcars,
subways, and bridges.
In modern times spray paint and
marker pens have become the most
commonly used graffiti materials
After the death of Charlie
Parker (nicknamed
"Yardbird" or "Bird"),
graffiti began appearing
around New York with the
words "Bird Lives”
In 1979, graffiti artist
Lee Quinones and Fab 5
Freddy were given a
gallery opening in Rome
by art dealer Claudio
Bruni.
Marc Ecko, an urban clothing
designer, has been an advocate of
graffiti as an art form, stating that
"Graffiti is without question the most
powerful art movement in recent
history and has been a driving
inspiration throughout my career."
Henry Chalfant is one of the foremost
advocates of modern graffiti, having
produced the documentary film Style
Wars and co-authored the books
Subway Art and Spray Can Art.
There is a significant graffiti tradition in South
America, especially in Brazil. Within Brazil,
São Paulo is generally considered to be the
current centre of inspiration for many graffiti
artists worldwide.
Since 2010 Malaysia has began hosting a
street festival to encourage all generations and
people from all walks of life to enjoy and
encourage Malaysian street culture.
A "tag" is the most basic
writing of an artist's name. A
graffiti writer's tag is his or her
personalized signature.
Many contemporary analysts and
even art critics have begun to see
artistic value in some graffiti and to
recognize it as a form of public art.
According to many art researchers,
particularly in the Netherlands and in
Los Angeles, that type of public art is,
in fact an effective tool of social
emancipation or, in the achievement
of a political goal.
With the commercialization of graffiti
(and hip hop in general), in most
cases, even with legally painted
"graffiti" art, graffiti artists tend to
choose anonymity.
In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used
revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places
to galvanise the country's communist revolution. Mao
holds the record for the longest piece of graffiti,
which contains 4,000 characters criticising his
teachers and the state of Chinese society.
In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded
to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as
when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting
to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric
paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure
near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-etGaronne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in
archeology.
In an effort to reduce vandalism,
many cities in Australia have
designated walls or areas
exclusively for use by graffiti
artists.
In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime
minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on
tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as
a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and
private property.
Art
There are many graffiti artists who put
time and effort into their work, such
as Banksy, Marc Echo, Seen and Cope.
Aik Saath is an organisation in Slough
that has paid graffiti artists to paint a
mural in the style of graffiti that the
council has authorised on a public
walkway. Graffiti can be very artistic,
colourful and can brighten up an area.
It can display the artist’s feelings or
opinions about the world around
them; in this case the mural above
captures the ethos of the conflict
resolution charity Aik Saath who aim
to foster positive relationships across
different sections of the local
community.
Vandalism
Vandalism such as graffiti is usually
done by the younger generation as
they are influenced by the more
experienced artists as mentioned,
therefore they usually get in trouble
by writing swear words which little
kids can see and doing graffiti on
walls, where they are not allowed to
or have permission to do it. The
stereotype image of a graffiti artist is
no good nicks that do it just to annoy
and disrupt the community.“Graffiti is
great! It allows young people to
express their feelings without getting
into trouble. If places are set aside for
graffiti, people who want see it can go
to see it.”
As I mentioned, Berlin is full of
artistry, and the most obvious form
of art is a form of vandalism!
Graffiti isn’t a new art and has
been around for as long as the
history books can remember.
Graffiti has long been used as a
way to express ones self and was
first recognised over 30,000 years
ago. The Romans, The Mayans and
The Vikings all used graffiti to voice
opinion or support for a cause.
More recently, graffiti has been
used to demonstrate or tag
territory between gangs and such
like. For example in rap music and
hip hop, graffiti gives a face to a
lifestyle that is hidden from the
general public!
So the first question is, ‘Is Graffiti a
form of art or just plain vandalism?’.
It’s really difficult to say if it’s one or
the other. If something in a public
place is being de-faced and retarnished with offensive wording and
profanity it should be considered
vandalism. However, graffiti is
something more than ill-wording with
absolutely no meaning. Most of the
graffiti I saw in Berlin was absolutely
stunning, and like the work’s of
Banksy and Belin, were nothing short
of phenominal masterpieces. I love art
and I love to see different artist
interpretations of an idea, thought or
reality. These people are artists,
criminal artists, but still artists.
Graffiti is a
controversial topic
which has long
been debated as a
nuisance to society
inflicted upon the
public or more
recently as a
legitimate form of
creative
expression. But the
question is not
answered: I cannot
say definitely if it is
art or vandalism?