Graffiti or Art?

to me that qualifies as art....afterall it is a mural and it is appealing to look at. On the other hand, when you see "tags" all over an area, that is grafiti and it gives an area a "blighter" look.

 

Sandy...sometimes grafiti can really make a difference. This painting tells a thousand words.

 

I think the person who did this is deffinately a artist
So I would call this one art

 

I agree, Gale, this person is definitely an artist. But, I would say that a large number of illegal graffiti is done by "artists" as well. I have seen some interesting and amazing tagging. What makes it tagging, and what we think of as graffiti, is the illegal nature of the act, not the artistic merit. :smile:

 

I also agree with Doug and this looks like art to me.

 

Its art if the owner did it or he asked someone to do it, otherwise its vandalism.
Many owners and councils commision "graffitti artists", to do pieces to compliment the area, as taggers "respect" these pieces and dont add their bits. Life is a compomise. 

 

Its a very nice mural myself i prefer tagging ,I spent mornings for a good part of the summer in 2005 shooting graffiti in film and loved it .

 

I am Senior Director of the F.B.I., that is, the French Bay Interceptors, which is the Enforcement Division of my communities Neighbourhood Watch.
By reproducing tagging, you give credance to the tagger and they get positive affirmation of their vandalism from your photos.. You become part of the legitimization of the phenonema, which is a bad thing, imho.:frown:
We take corrective actions on such behaviour and we enjoy it more than them.:wink:

 

I'd say it is both. Certainly a beautiful piece of art..and well captured..

 

Indeed a fine piece of graffiti art. But can be vandalism at the same time if the owner of the wall has not been asked. The problem in my opinion nowadays is that most of the kids with a spray can in their hands have no talent whatsoever...

 

Sure looks liek art to me so fo those graffiti artists and true talents here in Philly I knwo they have recurited some of them for public murials

 

I'm with NZ all the way on this one. Tagging is NOT Art, its vandalism pure and simple. Who gives these people the right to deface public and private property with their ugly spray painted crap in the middle of the night? I've been in Hawaii 9 years and when I first came tagging wasn't here to any great extent. Now its everywhere and its BUTT UGLY defacing of the public vista. Calling tagging Art makes me wretch actually. Glorifying these punk hoodlums with commissioned 'art' projects can only happen in a liberal permissive society. We have a new law here that sends taggers to jail or out on work details to remove the ugliness they have 'created'. A nice stiff fine too. You have to support initiatives in your area that address this issue as a crime or else it will overtake your community.

This image looks like commissioned public art in a 'grafitti style' but there is a difference between that and criminal midnight tagging. For starters, with respect to commissioned public Art, the artist is usually asked by the property owner or local governing agency to produce a mural for a specific public place, one that has the support of the local neighborhood or community. Design plans are formulated and agreed to. Permits are obtained, the work proceeds in daylight in public view. Ever see a tagger down at P&I seeking a permit? Ever see one spray painting his mark during the day? No, these are the same type of people who think its a blast to drive around at night breaking out windshields with a baseball bat. Criminal punks with no sense of social responsibility.

 

Sandi, I went off on a rant above concerning tagging, not this mural especially. There is obvious intent in this mural to make a well thought out aesthetic statement. Due to its size and complexity, I'm sure permission was granted as it would have taken many days or weeks to complete. Actually, if the spray painted "respect' in the middle was added by the muralist; there's an implied message to taggers in the area to keep away, to keep it cool, don't tag this...or anything else. That's what I'd like to believe anyway. If it was added by someone else, well.....refer to the above. Just more vandalism.

What I was really ranting over are the true gang taggers, the guys who spray ugly crude signatures on everything. There is no conscious attempt in that to make Art. Its a feudal territorial gangland thing much like a dog marking his space with a piss. That's different really and should not be encouraged.