Above are results from a little field trip I took on Thursday, September 29. Graffiti. Good? Or bad? Artistic expression? Or vandalism? Graffiti comes from the word graffito meaning to expose lower layers by means of scratching or carving. Nowadays it's typically meant to refer to painting on property. Free-hand spray painting, stencils, stickers, wheat pasting, and etching are just some of the methods employed in today's street art movement, a movement that is taking place world wide. Graffiti is even moving into the gallery scene.
From little rascals scribbling on a wall with a can they managed to get their hands on to middle aged, working citizens who'd like to share their skills with the world, just about anyone can partake in this global phenomenon. And people from every continent are indeed doing just that. Whether it be for the thrill and excitement of doing something illegal, saying to the world "I'm here", making a political or social statement, sharing free art for all to see, or just messing around, people seems to enjoy creating graffiti. Some enjoy it so much that they are willing to serve jail time and even die to have their work out there. Some travel around the world to have their works surround the globe.
And then there are people who hate it. It's vandalism. It's destruction of property, personal or public. It's "ugly." It's offensive. It leads to crime. One even said, "It's a gateway crime." Ironically enough one of the groups against graffiti is known as T.A.G., Totally Against Graffiti. I don't have much to say against graffiti, so I'll stop there.
I love graffiti in all it's various forms. The aesthetically pleasing murals are easy to enjoy, but I also find a particular beauty in the "ugliest", illegible, crudely executed tag. The background picture to this blog is of my arms covered in sharpie. I did this about 4 years ago. I gave people a arsenal of sharpies and told them to do as they pleased with them on my arms. One guy even drew a penis on my bicep, but it's not visible in this picture. =P And I had this all over my arms during winter break. Sometimes you just have to go with it. What I do not enjoy is when people paint over graffiti with the most ill fitting colors that make it so obvious that they are covering graffiti. What makes a block of paint better than the work that was there before it?
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