Art in the Streets' at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

It’s generally not a good idea to censor a mural you commissioned, especially when that mural is part of a show about uncommissioned street art.
When Museum of Contemporary Art director and curator Jeffrey Deitch whitewashed a mural by Italian artist Blu in December, the episode perfectly illustrated how graffiti’s unruly, in-your-face attitude, even when sanitized under the banner of “street art,” might not be a good fit for a museum retrospective. The very idea of the exhibition “Art in the Streets” at the Geffen Contemporary asks whether this erstwhile outlaw culture can or should be folded into the grand narrative of art history.
Despite its first, faltering steps, the exhibition answers this question with a resounding “Yes.” Viewers will encounter a bombastic, near-overwhelming cavalcade of eye candy: colorful swirling murals, immersive installations, walls papered with candid and provocative photos, and a custom-designed skate ramp. Immodestly anticipating the response, there’s even a big “WOW” painted on the inside of the building’s roll down doors. But the exhibition’s strong suit is not its impressive array of large-scale work but rather its art historical treatment of an outsider form, complete with a timeline, “period” rooms, and plenty of video and photographic documentation.

Although bright colors, lights and sounds beckon from the galleries on the main floor, it’s worth spending some time with the terse but informative timeline upstairs. It moves briskly from the movement’s beginnings in tagging in New York and Philadelphia in the 1960s, through cholo graffiti in L.A. in ’70s, and the form’s emergence on the New York gallery scene in the ’80s.
It also charts graffiti’s overlap with punk and skateboarding cultures and the emergence of the “Wild Style” that famously blanketed New York subway cars in the ’70s and ’80s. The timeline stops abruptly in 1989, when the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority began its anti-graffiti campaign, but picks up again on the other side of the galleries to chart the movement’s increasing popularity: the founding of Juxtapoz magazine, Shepard Fairey’s Obama “Hope” poster, and last year’s Academy Award-nominated documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop.”
Because of its outlaw status (despite its long-running influence in art and fashion), street art has not been fully welcomed into the annals of art history. At the press preview, Deitch, his co-curators Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose, and artist Fab 5 Freddy compared street art’s effect to that of Cubism, Constructivism, Dada, Surrealism and Pop Art. That might be a stretch, but this hyping of the exhibition is completely in step with graffiti’s ethos of self-presentation. Spawned with tagging — scrawling one’s name on every available surface — graffiti began as a simple act of self-assertion. In fact, perhaps the first piece of graffiti was created by World War II shipyard inspector James J. Kilroy, who inscribed every piece of equipment with a long-nosed cartoon face and the words “Kilroy was here.”
This character is revitalized in Lance Mountain’s and Geoff McFetridge’s custom skate ramp, basically a collection of inclines and blocks decorated with large, Kilroy-esque faces. Nike, a co-sponsor of the exhibition, will send members of its SB skate team to skate the ramp twice a week, filling the galleries with a soundtrack of scraping and crashing. It’s not the first time skaters have been welcomed into a museum — co-curator Rose built a skate bowl in the 2004 exhibition “Beautiful Losers” at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco — but in the context of this show, their performance underscores the importance of the body and self-fashioning in street art.
Created on the street, at night, often in inaccessible places, graffiti writing is itself a species of physical performance. It’s not surprising then that images of the artists and their friends appear everywhere in the exhibition. As Deitch noted, graffiti is an ephemeral form. Like performance art, it is often only experienced as documentation. This ranges from Gusmano Cesaretti’s gritty photographs of the cholo scene in 1970s L.A. and Martha Cooper’s vibrant portraits of New York artists in the early ’80s to darker images of more raucous, sometimes violent youth by Ed Templeton, Teen Witch (Andrea Sonnenberg), Dash Snow, Terry Richardson and Larry Clark.
If Pop artists responded to the shiny new consumer culture that emerged after World War II, graffiti artists responded to its decay, reflecting disillusionment and broken promises. This underbelly of consumerism also surfaces in several large, immersive installations. “Street Market” by Todd James, Barry McGee and Stephen Powers is a facsimile of a clutch of narrow city streets lined with decaying, fetid buildings and bedecked with cheap electric signage. The buildings are filled with what look like miniature art studios and makeshift living spaces that can be glimpsed only through the windows; they’re like little dens of creativity amid the ruins of consumer society.
In a more illusionistic vein, Neckface has created a dark, filthy alleyway littered with broken bottles and debris whose only purpose seems to be inspiring trepidation. Such installations were obviously never intended for the street. Rather, they attempt to re-create a “street” atmosphere that is both carnival-esque and unsettling. In this, they are not unlike the works of mainstream installation artists — Mike Kelley comes to mind — or for that matter, the artificial environments at Disneyland.
This extension of street art aesthetics to illusionistic installations raises the question: What happens to street art when it is no longer in the street? Certainly it loses some of its shock value — part of the beauty of street art is that it might take us unawares. Perhaps the examples above are attempts to shock us by bringing the street into the gallery. But they feel overly labored and oddly, a bit fussy.
This elevation of street art in the museum — essentially, the show’s premise — is the target of the ubiquitous Banksy’s contribution. He asked local high school students to tag panels in myriad colors and then framed them inside a drawing of a Gothic arch that resembles a stained glass window in a church. Below, he added an illustration of a praying figure kneeling next to a can of paint. The piece suggests that enshrining graffiti art within the museum turns it into an icon requiring our submission. In case we missed this point, Banksy has also placed a real, full-sized steamroller in the space as a not-so-subtle reminder of the implacable march of commodification. Ever the contrarian, he brilliantly continues to bite the hand that feeds him.
In the end, the show is not just about showcasing street art but about recovering in some way what has already been lost. Henry Chalfant’s installation of hundreds of photos of graffiti-laden New York subway cars is oddly touching, not just for its nostalgic look at the past but because it’s a testament to the sheer volume of work that has been erased.
L.A. artist Saber responds to this phenomenon in a huge white and gray mural — a grisaille, really — with a trompe l’oeil tear in it that reveals layers of graffiti underneath. The piece acknowledges not only that graffiti is a temporal medium — painted over layers and layers of previous work — it’s also a nod to those writers who came before. Street art may be a product of a particular moment, but as the energy and variety of this show attest, it is constantly reinventing itself.

The Graffiti Art Culture

The Pop Culture of Graffiti – Street Art and Graffiti
The actual word, Graffiti, singular graffito; is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. Graffiti is any type of public markings that may appear in the form of simple written words to elaborate wall paintings. Graffiti has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. Today paint, particularly spray paint, and marker pens have become the most commonly used graffiti materials. In most countries, marking or painting property without the property owner's consent is considered defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime.  Sometimes graffiti expresses social and political messages and a whole genre of artistic expression is based upon spray paint graffiti styles. Recently to some it is an art form worthy of display in galleries and exhibitions; to others it is merely repulsive vandalism.
Outsider Art Movement

Both art forms, street art and graffiti, are a part of the outsider art movement – that being artists with no academic or formal training in the visual arts. Art history has shown us for centuries the progression of the visual arts is moving further away from this elitist viewpoint. In the past art was seen as a technical skill that only a few talented chosen artists mastered. The wealthy commissioned, bought and determined what, was “good art”.   Gradually as time has moved on, we have gravitated towards more of a freedom of expression and the brave have taken huge risks towards revealing the question of what makes art,  'art'.   A combination of Art History and Art Therapy training has made me questioned this often.   I have realized that, art is a visual form of expression, inherit in all of us. Although some art connoisseurs still to this day hold on to their traditional views and disagree. Whoever takes the opportunity to expresses themselves visually may be considered an artist. It's a form of communication that we all interpret differently.  During our modern world we see more innovative artists exploring new territories and crossing the boundaries of traditional art.  The Art world has veered into the commercial environment as well, used to attract and sell items.  Nowadays many professional artists find themselves in the position that they must learn to market their creative work in order to survive financially.  These marketing techniques get extravagant and gives more rise to the question, "what is art?"

Revolt Against Noise Pollution

Many graffiti artist revolt and make their statements about the commercial world we live in. Noise pollution is an issue in the urban areas and with advertising and branding.  This commercial quiet visual pollution surrounds us every day. Some graffiti artists see their creative process as a revolt against visual pollution. The overwhelming billboards and messages that pollute the streets in the city can leave us feeling financially inadequate and helpless at times. Often feeling empty.  Some see the street art and graffiti art as a revolt against the arts media marketing. Why must only the commercial world have control of this form of expression and visual dissonance? However, the controversies that surround graffiti continue to create disagreement amongst city officials/law enforcement and graffiti artists who wish to display and appreciate work in public locations. There are many different types and styles of graffiti and it is a rapidly developing art form whose value is highly disputed.

The Growing Appreciation of Street Art

Graffiti has often evolved into a pop culture existence often related to underground hip hop music, b-boying, and a lifestyle that remains hidden from the general public. Graffiti can be used as a gang signal to mark territory or to serve as an indicator or "tag" for gang-related activity.  This is not the case for all graffiti art.  There is a huge controversy in regards to the evolved graffiti art, stencils, sticker art, wheatpasting / street poster art, and street installations. However, the ‘Street Art’ is typically used to differentiate this new movement from graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art. Many non profit organizations encourage creative self expression among youth and start mural projects among the street to beautify the lower income areas. Often there is a large amount of cross over between the two art forms.  For example, in New York City, Spring Street was one of the World’s most known Street Art canvases. On December 15, 2006 the outside and inside of the building, in need of flat roof repair among other things, was opened to the public in one final and mass display / installation of Street Art before the building was cleaned up and turned into apartments. In Toronto there is an increase in the value and the beauty of the graffiti and street art forms as it becomes more acceptable in certain places. Queen Street has it's own beautiful Graffiti alley.  The art form is more appreciated if it is respectful of private property. Many graffiti artists realize this and have established rules of conduct with bombing on the streets.  Local walking tours such as the Murals and Public Art in the Junction Triangle has organized a free walk in west Toronto that is bordered on all three sides by railways tracks and underpasses, making it an ideal place for public art. This walk on Saturday May 7, 2011 at 10am explores the painted murals, ghost signs, graffiti, and other public art throughout the neighbourhood.  It nice to this appreciation, interest and potential understanding for this Outsider art increasing.

The Street is my Canvas, Danger

The graffiti art sub-culture can be very dangerous. Many of these bombers or artists not only risk being caught by authorities vandalizing insulated concrete forms of public buildings, but they also risk their lives. The term bombing is done everywhere and can be as simple as marking. These bombers often don’t feel like they have a voice in society and this tagging one’s signature can feel empowering leaving a legacy behind in a place where you feel ignored or forgotten. Such is the case for 18 year old Bardia Bryan Zargham in 2005. On a section of the CPR tracks in mid-town Toronto, the young man was struck by an oncoming train. Bardia Bryan Zargham was a graffiti artist and he was writing his tag – his graffiti name – on the side of a stationary freight car when a train hit him. His tag was Alpha, the beginning of everything. Alpha was known as the King of the Bombers. He was known to be good at writing his name in big letters in a few short minutes and then moving on to do it again.  This was a tragedy that graffiti artists must not ignore  Rest in peace Alpha.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Understanding and research of graffiti art is essential before cities begin to destroy all aspects of it on the streets.  The documentary movie Exit Through the Gift Shop is an insightful and interesting view on graffiti or street art. It’s a story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. The film contains footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work. So many artists have incredible messages.  Some have a large amount of respect for the city streets and private property and they have so much they want to share with the public on the street with not recognition or reward received. Living in the city of Toronto I must admit there are times I see these tags or art works and I am repulsed; however, more often I feel a great amount of joy and appreciation for creative work involved, including their colourful beauty. I recognize that I feel these contradictory emotions in an art gallery as well. Art evokes emotions. Graffiti is part of our modern day urban pop culture and has it's own value of art accessible to all.   It would be a shame to have all of this expressive art eliminated from the streets in Toronto.   I relate it to music, and feel it has a place on the city streets and not just galleries and cafes. 

Graffiti Moon

I’ve been excited about reading this one ever since it had it’s US release some months ago, but first I had to wait for the UK release, and even then I missed it. If you’ve been keeping an eye on my Books of the Month table in my sidebar,  you’ll already know that Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley was my favourite book, back in July, when I’d had the opportunity to finally read it, so the contents of this review shouldn’t come as a surprise…
I enjoyed it every bit as much as I thought I would do. When it’s done as well as this, I really do enjoy a duel point-of-view book (technically this is a triple point-of-view as Lucy and Ed’s chapters are interspersed with Leo’s poems (and pretty effective they are)).
I did want to throttle the characters on occasion for their stupidity and poor decision-making (meaning they don’t see the wood for the trees on an almost hourly basis!), but only because they were actually pretty clued-up, intelligent and talented kids. – In other words, pretty typical teenagers! . But boy, are they characters to really get behind and like.
The fact that Lucy once punched Ed on the nose, adds some wonderful black humour to their initial interactions and eventual banter, and I really enjoyed what their artistic sides brought to both of their personalities and discussions. Lucy works with blown glass, and Ed… Well it’s hardly a surprise, why he seems to know so much about graffiti artist Shadow… It added depth to them and the story and kept the book from becoming too frivolous.
A delight to read, I enjoyed every moment of Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley.

‘We’ve got at least seven hours to get what we want before the sun comes up.’
School is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight she’s going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. Somewhere in the glassy darkness, he’s out there, spraying colour, birds and blue sky on the night. And Lucy knows that a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for – really fall for.
The last person Lucy wants to spend this night with is Ed, the guy she’s managed to avoid since punching him in the nose on the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells Lucy he knows where to find Shadow, the two of them are suddenly on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s pieces of heartbreak and escape echo off the city walls. 
 
And what Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

Black Arrow Alphabet Graffiti Art

"Black Arrow Alphabet Graffiti Art Design"

Graffiti is a very beautiful, with world developments graffiti, now many different kinds of graffiti that appears, arrow graffiti alphabet is one of them. Graffiti alphabet is one of the flow from a very popular graffiti artists of this street.

Some facts about the teaching of popular music at ICMuS

You can take the modules offered on this programme as part of the MMus programme. Click here to find out more.

Popular Music Studies at Newcastle is distinguished by its encouragement of scholarly research on Western pop alongside 'traditional' and 'world' popular musics. Members of staff at ICMuS have a lengthy track record of publication, composition, performance and recording and have received invitations to speak at major international conferences (Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Cuba, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, USA), research seminars (UK, USA) and guest lectures (Chile, UK, Puerto Rico, Sweden, USA). Cross-school collaborations have resulted in major international events such as the first Popular Musics of the Hispanic and Lusophone Worlds conference, held in Newcastle in 2006 and the ¡VAMOS! festivals (ongoing). ICMuS has also hosted the 2002 IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music) UK & Ireland conference, a seminar series in collaboration with Centre for Gender and Women's Studies/Instituto Camões in 2001-2002, and the 2007 BFE (British Forum For Ethnomusicology) conference entitled ‘Between Folk and Popular’.

Some facts about the teaching of popular music at ICMuS

• We run a highly successful BMus degree in Popular and Contemporary Music (see here for more)
• Popular music is a vital part of ICMUS’s claim for inclusivity, as recognised in the Centre’s leadership of Centre of Excellence for Teaching and Learning (CETL) for Music and Inclusivity
• Our research profile is committed to engaging with all aspects of popular music and popular musicology (click here for more on this)
• As part of its ongoing commitment to the ‘democratisation of the possible’, ICMuS hosts the online journal Radical Musicology.

Staff teaching and researching in this area

• Paul Attinello (Modernist and Postmodernist music and theory, especially since World War II, music and gender) click here for more
• Ian Biddle (music & politics; gender & sexuality; psychoanalysis; popular musics) click here for more
• David Clarke (analysis & theory; music & culture) click here for more
• Nanette De Jong (ethnomusicology; the African diaspora; Salsa; memory; performance) click here for more
• Will Edmondes (improvisation, studio-based composition, Hip Hop, Funk, Jazz & counterculture) click here for more
• Kirsten Gibson (early modern English secular song; print culture; gender; historiography and critical theory) click here for more
• Bennett Hogg (composition, ethnomusicology, cultural history and theory of technology, psychoanalysis) click here for more
• Goffredo Plastino (ethnomusicology; world music/world beat; traditional & popular musics, especially of the Mediterranean) click here for more
•  There’s a woman committed suicide in front of auto insurance building.

The Misunderstandings Of Graffiti 2012

The Misunderstandings of Graffiti
To the untrained eye, graffiti can be vandalism of public or private property, arbitrary and useless unlike the framed works of arts in galleries or just lunatics who want to put their names on walls. Graffiti often times can be a largely misunderstood art form, which to some people could never even be considered art. Two main questions conform when considering graffiti, what graffiti can be to a society and whether or not it should be considered a crime? “Graffiti art transforms a person’s mood into an image generally on a large surface in the region of public or private buildings, bridges or overpasses, recreational facilities and public transportation” ("Writing on the Wall." Patel, Samir S). Graffiti, which can be done with materials such as spray paint, crayon and any permanent ink, conforms two general views. The first involving the general public stating signs of disorder, meaning graffiti can open the door to individuals breaking other social norms and rules (Graffiti triggers crime, littering, study shows, pg1). The second view refers to the graffiti as art, considering the art as making the city a brighter and more attractive place to live (Graffiti: Art and Crime, IV).
Different types of graffiti can cause the misunderstanding throughout society. The five major types of graffiti include gang graffiti, tagger graffiti, conventional graffiti, ideological graffiti and oner graffiti. The first main type of graffiti called, gang graffiti is often used by gangs to mark turf or convey threats of violence (US department of justice, pg.3). Then there’s tagger graffiti, generally done rapidly with the intention of complicating street art and having no intention of making it look like a piece of art. Conventional graffiti when done, often isolated or consist of spontaneous acts of "youthful exuberance," and even sometimes malicious or vindictive (US department of justice, pg.3). Ideological graffiti conveys political, gender, race and religious messages. The last main type of graffiti would be, Oner graffiti, which uses an in-depth thought process, tremendous amount of colors, and needs an extreme amount of talent, also done individually without any affiliation to a crew (Tagging as a social literacy practice, Pg.358). This generally takes a lot of time because it has the intention of becoming a masterpiece or to be viewed by the public as a piece of art.
Graffiti artists, such as a well know artist named Bansky and Pixnit that do oner graffiti for a way of expressing themselves, the thrill, street credit, to contribute to a community, honoring one’s death, and even a way out; for example my uncle had a slight drug problem and was jobless then as soon as he started writing on public and private walls his life began to change. He later on got into a prestigious art school called The Art Institute of California, San Diego. Graffiti allowed my uncle to get back on the right path and into a position where he is today, currently doing marketing design for movie titles such as Little Miss Sunshine and business signs such as my dad’s business, Environmental Development.
Graffiti artists view their graffiti as an art, such as Banksy who painted a mural (graffiti) on the Palestinian side of Israel's blank boring West Bank barrier which separates Israel from the Palestinian Territories. This mural depicted a man pulling back a curtain to reveal a beautiful sunny scene on the other side of the blank boring barrier, and another mural showing a girl being lifted by balloons towards the top of the wall. Since the barrier’s value was not affected by the paint and the murals demonstrated a meaning, the graffiti artist would look at this as a contribution to the society (An Essay Concerning The Recognition of Some Forms of Graffiti As Art). Other artists do graffiti for many different reasons other than to make a political statement or even to have a meaning.(Odeith. Odeith’s Hall of Fame. 2007. Detroit. Digital image.)
A graffiti artist by the name of Coda does his art for a more in-depth perception of his true self. Coda comments, "To pour your soul onto a wall and be able to step back and see your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your weaknesses, really give you a deeper understanding of yourself and your own mental state."(Graffiti: Art and Crime, graffiti and the community). With graffiti being incorporated in Coda’s life, he has essentially been able to become closer to his family and most of all found his true self. By Coda finding his true self he not only can figure out what interests him but also can take steps in his life to become successful and closer to his dream.
Even though graffiti artists do their own graffiti for different moral reasons such as Banksy and Coda, they all seemed to feel frustrated with the way the media portrays them, often times relating the art to gangsters or even thugs who corrupt the economy. For example in March 2009, a man identified by Pittsburgh Police as “Hert,” the city’s second most-wanted graffiti artist, entered the Allegheny County Courthouse for an appearance stemming from a prior arrest for graffiti. As soon as he arrived, he was informed that police wanted him arrested because of 69 misdemeanors and four felony counts of criminal mischief based on graffiti (art-crime-graffiti-wars). TV cameras were there to capture the moment that ended up portraying him as a gangster graffiti artiest, which “Hert” would strongly object to. Another graffiti artist named Sueme who is also involved with graphic design, photography, abstract painting and mixed media fine art states that he does his art for the passion and the way it expresses himself, not for gang related measures or even corrupting the economy (fatcap, sueme). “Chor-boogie” a popular graffiti artist in the west who stays away from gang involvement mentions, “My real goal is to support myself and a family off what I love to do” and “Honestly I'm not down with it simply because I have a different perspective on the art side of things… I do it because I simply like painting” (fatcap, chor-boogie).
Graffiti has urbanized over the years, constantly changing to exceed the limits that were once never even thought of, such as style, skill and creativity. A writer named "Noise" from Louisville, said this about the current position of graffiti, "It's all about being creative, markers on stop signs and bus stops—that's been done. You need to elevate and push it to the next level whether you're making stickers and putting them up or carrying around a bucket full of glue rolling it and putting up your posters on a wall so they won't come off or even telephone poles with some kind of art on it. It's all about, like I said, just elevating and being creative and pushing the envelope"(Graffiti.org/trucker). This begins to benefit the community by keeping away useless tags and even gives artist money for making murals. For example In January 2008, San Diego paid artist Jason Hailey $4,000 to create the first mural along the Sprinter line (VISTA: Murals help deter graffiti vandalism). (Slinkachu. Sloooooow Motiooooon. 2009. Digital image.)
This mural painted along the city's rail line was put into place to combat graffiti along Vista's Sprinter corridor. Since this mural was painted, there have been no tags put up on the train lines; therefore it seems to be working. City officials mentioned they hope to see more murals along the tracks to help erase the tagging problem (VISTA: Murals help deter graffiti vandalism). These types of graffiti can be very beneficial to a community not only because it keeps unnecessary tags away but can also be inspirational, uplifting and beneficial to the community by bringing everyone together. This leads the community to become more involved, providing new exquisite structures and a way for people in the community to socialize and create new friendships, which a community needs to become a stable, productive city.
While some people believe graffiti can help a community, others believe it can ruin the community. Driving down revenues associated with reduced ridership on transit systems, reduced retail sales, declines in property value and the removal processes that takes place cost our government lots of money (graffiti hurts). A 2006 survey of the 88 cities, Caltrans and Metro in Los Angeles County on graffiti removal found the cost of graffiti removal on walls, transits, ect was about $28 million dollars a year (graffiti hurts). With a population of close to 10 million, the per capita cost comes to around $2.80(graffiti hurts). According to the US Department of Justice there is an estimated 12 billion dollars spent on clean ups in the US yearly (US department of justice, pg.1). The cost of graffiti clean ups end up costing the taxpayers lots of money; therefore before the general public ever appreciates graffiti, they begin not to like it.
When the general public thinks of graffiti they commonly think of it as gang related by identifying turf, declaring superiority over other gangs, or even instigating challenges and threats to rivals which damage public and private facilities (Graffiti…Art or Vandalism). They tend to see graffiti in these ways because of the style it consists of, often-unreadable words or initials, elaborate designs or bubble-style letters. This leads further to people believing a message of lawlessness and a neighborhood that does not care about its appearance or community. Graffiti not only can be considered a means of gang involvement by the general public, but as a “gateway for other disorderly problems including public disorder, such as littering, public urination and loitering; shoplifting of materials needed for graffiti, such as paint and markers; gangs and gang violence, as gang graffiti conveys threats and identifies turf boundaries; and property destruction, such as broken windows or slashed bus or train seats” (US department of justice, pg.3).(JiLsBLaOvzE. Chicago Gang Graffiti. 1990. Chicago. Digital image.)
When an economically dysfunctional city has a lack in control and tends to become careless about its appearance it starts to invite destructive graffiti. When this destructive graffiti starts to emerge it then causes the value of property to decrease. For example in San Antonio graffiti not only drains the communities tax dollars that provide the funds that could be used for schools, roads, parks and other community improvements that now have to be used for graffiti clean up but decrease the property value and leads to a loss in business growth (sanantonio.gov). This ends up deterring tourist and even decreased resident’s feeling of safety in a community. Thus instilling fear and a feeling of vulnerability within the city, putting it into a downward spiral. In a study called “Graffiti triggers crime, littering, study shows” they did two experiments with an outcome of learning that graffiti artists become more motivated to do graffiti when there is an anti-graffiti sign in the area (Graffiti triggers crime, littering, study shows). In conclusion these graffiti artists do it without permission, therefore the general public thinks they should be punished for a crime.
The general public needs to be informed that graffiti can be prevented. In a research paper called Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Series No. 9 it shows that graffiti can be substantially reduced and sometimes even be eliminated. This can happen with an efficient response to graffiti. The study shows, in order for this to happen there needs to be someone tracking the amount or size of graffiti, number and type of graffiti locations, content and type of graffiti, length of time graffiti-prone surfaces stay clean and public fear and perceptions about the amount of graffiti, which (may be assessed through surveys of citizens, changes in use of public space and transit systems, changes in retail sales, and other indirect measures) on a routine basis (US department of justice, pg.28). When a community does not like or considers graffiti to be destructive they need to take some control rather than leaving it to the police. Typically the general public relies soly on police to regulate graffiti, but in order to stop graffiti in a community it must involve the general public, individual victims and criminal justice officials such as prosecutors and judges.
According to Martha Cooper graffiti can be considered as vandalism and at the same time be art, “It can be art and vandalism. Most people did not know at the time…They just saw graffiti and they just felt insulted by graffiti and they hated graffiti…”
(urbanartcore) Since graffiti can be considered as an art form, it should be allowed by the government if they set the right regulations for it, such as in areas with cracked walls, deserted buildings and in places where it will set a good image for the community. If people can benefit from non-destructive graffiti and there is no loss to anyone but the fact that they don’t like the way it looks, it should be legal with certain restrictions. Graffiti can not only benefit an artist but also can inspire others, making certain areas of a community more enjoyable and even benefit the economy.
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