Graffiti: Street Art In New York City

Going back to the original question, what is considered graffiti? McAuliffe and Iveson proposed an idea, “asking whether graffiti is still graffiti if it is taken from its illegal context on the walls of the city and placed in a gallery” (130). In “The Making of Space, Race and Place” by Maggie Dickinson, Sandra Fabara, a writer who was featured in the Brooklyn Museum exhibit, answered this question. Fabara argued that “The pieces in galleries cease to be graffiti because they have been removed from the cultural context that gives graffiti a reason for being, a voice from the ghetto. Authentic graffiti cannot exist in the sanctuary provided by the galleries and museums” (39). She is saying that since the cultural side is being taken away and

Graffiti has been around for more than half a decade and practiced worldwide. However there is debate between whether it is a form of art or vandalism. Graffiti artists’ debate that many do not understand the reason most graffiti artist take the risk of incarceration, fines, injuries, and in some cases death to paint a wall. A graffiti artist can have the simple desire to become recognized, or to create a piece that speaks to their audience as a form of self expression. Because graffiti is associated with gangs and acts of destruction to some many cannot see the history and importance graffiti can have on a worldwide scale. Due to the fact that graffiti is usually produced illegally, meaning it is

Graffiti has always been stigmatized as vandalism. Throughout history, unwanted markings on buildings has been seen as unlawful, crude, and unartistic. From the stone ages to the rise of gang graffiti in the 1970s, the word graffiti has had this negative connotation attached to it. Now, in the 21st century, people still associate graffiti with vandalism and negativity despite our growth as a society. The line between vandalism and art has been burred for some time, but in today’s society, graffiti is not simply petty acts of vandalism, but art and should be treated as such. People who think graffiti is only vandalism even in today’s modern society need to realize that modern graffiti is no longer tied to gang violence and is actual quite similar to modern advertising techniques. Also, if graffiti is legalized it would stop the government from wasting tax dollars to remove the graffiti and protect the artist’s creative freedom and first amendment rights.

Graffiti portrays contemporary sub-cultured art through its versatility and bold attractiveness on the communal grounds. In the 1970s, graffiti was blatantly acknowledged as territorial graffiti where

If you walk through almost any city, the buildings, bridges, and any other available spaces are seemingly filled with colors, picture, and words that are not part of the original architecture. This graffiti, which is a mix of tags, stencils, pieces, and freestyle, seems to have almost taken over cities across the world. Some of this graffiti, such as tags, are eyesores, but some pieces, such as the High Line “Love Is the Answer” and “Kiss” murals in New York City, are sites that have become iconic pieces of artwork. Unfortunately, pieces like these are also starting to be covered to a seemingly astronomical rate, which is causing outrage among those who visited to them.

According to Boyd, through Graffiti is essential to understand as a form of art that crosses the boundaries of location, method, and motivation. He acknowledges that graffiti might include “racist remarks, empty slogans and illegal signatures.”(Boyd 251) Boyd’s piece is also very informative because according to the author, there are two methods for creating this form of art: murals and tagging. The most popular one is tagging because it can be found almost everywhere from fence posts to trains, street walls to buses. The main goal of graffiti writers is to put their signature tags in places to be recognized by their

The roots of graffiti started about 1971 by a Greek American who tagged “TAKI-183” in all New York subway system, he declared that he “used graffiti to create an identity in which he is certain about” (Fortuna 3), then it emerged all around America and the world. (David 72)

There are many associations with graffiti writing, Hip-hop being the first. Though the emergence of graffiti can be attributed to street gangs; which, they used to mark their territories (Chronopoulos 2011, pg. 79), graffiti began to merge with hip-hop culture in the 70s (Chronopoulos 2011, pg. 82). Ultimately, this combination promoted the public domination over public spaces in New York City through the use

Graffiti or more commonly known in modern day as street art has a deep rooted history dating back to early civilizations. Historians have credited graffiti displaying crucial parts of early civilization and how people did things. Graffiti has been recorded all the way back to Pompeii in rock carvings that recorded the everyday life of many citizens and allowed a way to display actions. Graffiti has also displayed substantial importance in the medieval time period in allowing people against the church power to show self-reasoning and create public statements that were denoted by church officials (CConnel). Through the years graffiti has evolved into a more commonly practiced form of art in which people display emotions or beliefs. This has created great social movements throughout the world with such figures as Sheppard Fairey, Banksy, and many others. This shows some of the importance that graffiti has

Most people think of graffiti as vandalism or the defacing of private property by wild teenagers with spray cans. I had never really thought about graffiti or art for that matter until I found myself defending something I didn’t know about because I liked what I saw on the sidewalk in Memphis, Tennessee. Now, that’s sounds crazy but I did my best to explain using simple words that I hoped they would understanding.

Graffiti portrays a message whether it’s spelled out on the concrete or hidden behind a sort of code. It lets unheard voices, be heard. There are many different forms of graffiti, tagging is the form of street art that most often results in consequences (Eickmier). This is because tagging is basically signing your nickname on a wall, and once the police figure out your pseudonym they will most likely find you. Graffiti is not always considered to be ugly though, some artists work actually ends up in museums (Wark) A manchester artist who goes by the name “Banksy” ultimately avoided jail because his work was deemed “artistic” He was later given an opportunity to showcase his work in a museum. Graffiti does not

Graffiti can be found everywhere and anywhere. It is a way for people to express themselves and be creative in a public manner. It shows how passionate and talented they can be when it comes to drawing or tagging and have it displayed as a piece of art for everyone to see. Graffiti goes way back to the ancient times and is now very well known in the modern days which makes more and more people interested and fascinated by them. It can be used in different types of ways. Many artists can either spray paint, carve, paste, or stencil them on a surface. From how we see them today they are usually images of random cartoons, big bubbly letters, vintage black and whites or inspirational quotes. Virtually anything colorful or not and big that can be easily spotted. Graffiti is more superior to be known as art than vandalism because it is a self expressing act. People need to be open minded about the images they see and look at the message behind it or else they will immediately criticize and say it is vandalizing property.

In the short essay Graffiti is a Public Good, Even As it Challenges the Law Lu Olivero brings up the topic of graffiti and it’s righteousness as an artform. Olivero starts off the essay with an explanation that graffiti is a subgenre of vandalism, which is a form of self-expression and is, therefore, art. However, graffiti embodies a different sense of aestheticism than of the vandalism and often carry a critical message behind it ultimately holding value as an artwork. Throughout the essay, Olivero discusses the depreciation graffiti art experience in the art world as well as in the socio-political environment. Since graffiti continues to stay on the borderline of vandalism- a crime- and an art form, he wishes to change the perception of graffiti

Graffiti is an art that is unauthorized. Graffiti’s existence may parallel the origins of human existence, as cave drawing can be traced back to the earliest known communication. Modern graffiti can be traced to urban areas in the northeastern United States. During the 1960s and 70s, graffiti became a method by which youth in Northeastern part of US left their marks or identification around their neighborhoods. The process of leaving one’s

The origin and history of graffiti is not what one might expect. Believed to have been created by a Philadelphia high school student named Cornbread in 1967, it was a bold effort to catch the attention of a girl (De Melker). In this same time period, graffiti sprung up in New York as well. It was “one among many forms of social protest” during