Is graffiti art or crime? essay sample

Of course graffiti can be a crime, and many times is, but it isn’t always. With that said, the more important part of this answer is that regardless of its legality, Graffiti is art. Regardless of public acceptance, graffiti is without a doubt a form of artistic expression. It takes incredible skill and ability to accomplish what modern graffiti artists are doing. It is evident in their work that only a true artist could create such intricate and beautiful works as they do. Few would be ignorant enough say that work with such perspective, depth, color, and detail is not art. To say that graffiti is not art would be like saying Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo Da Vinci weren’t artists. And what makes the spray- can so much different than the paintbrush? Just because many times it isn’t done legally, doesn’t mean it should be disqualified as art. If Raphael did his School of Athens in the Vatican without permission, would it be vandalism or art? This does not mean that it is okay to illegally paint someone’s property, but it should be accepted that regardless of its location, many graffiti pieces take extreme artistic skill, and not just anyone can do it. However does this still give the right for graffiti to continue?

Graffiti doesn’t have to be allowed to continue, it will no matter what, and that has to be accepted. Even if the strictest laws possible about graffiti are enforced, it wouldn’t matter, because today, there is plenty of graffiti art done legally, in fact, more than ever. It is being accepted more and more by people and used very often in pop culture. Some cities even provide legal walls in order to encourage it. It is an art unconcerned with legality. Now it’s becoming more about the art. The more it is encouraged, the more it will be done legally, contrary to society’s fear that it will be done more illegally if it is encouraged. However, graffiti will always be done illegally because it is part of the culture. If it weren’t ever done illegally, the pioneers would have never evolved it into the precious art it has become today. It is also become part of the culture because since society refuses to give fame to graffiti artists, they seek it among their peers by “ getting up”. If graffiti is accepted by society completely, artists would get up by their skills in the gallery rather than having the most tags around the city.