Graffiti Art Essay

565 Words3 Pages
It seems to me that graffiti, much more often than not, has a negative connotation to it. Graffiti often brings to mind images of unruly teens scribbling on bathroom walls or painting hearts and "JACK WUZ HERE" across the backs of abandoned buildings. Once upon a time, perhaps this was all graffiti was, but the art has come a long way since its humble beginnings crouched in the school bathroom. It is unfortunate that the beauty of graffiti has been reduced to wall scribblings in the minds of so many people. Graffiti and the more recent development of street art is so much more than mere writing. It is stylistic, it is emotional, it is raw self expression at its finest. Graffiti, by definition (not only in dictionaries but by the artists themselves) is illegal, any commissioned art is a mural, and not graffiti. Graffiti is still often associated with bad neighborhoods, gangs and violence. This is one of the greatest misconceptions about graffiti (Farrell, 1994). More often than not, graffiti artists are normal people, they are teachers, contractors, small business owners whose voices are not often heard in public. Graffiti is a way for the average person to get their ideas out into public for everyone to see, these people have something to say; they don't need permission to say it.

Some definitions of graffiti:
Merriam-Websters Dictionary: Graffiti
Verb- to draw graffiti on : to deface with graffiti.
Noun- unauthorized writing or drawing on a public surface.
(Merriam-Websters, 2012)

Encyclopaedia Brittanica: Graffiti
Form of visual communication, usually illegal, involving the unauthorized marking of public space by an individual or group. Although the common image of graffiti is a stylistic symbol or phrase spray-painted on a wall by a member of a street gang, some graffiti is not gang related. Graffiti can be understood as antisocial behavior performed

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