This is a really touching article on how positive graffiti can be if you find someone slamming graffiti, tell them to read this.

Graffiti: what is art, what is vandalism, what is graffiti
by Angelene Wolters

Sitting on the number 21 bus that runs up and down Lake Street in Minneapolis, I watched a boy about my age write his "tag name" on a name tag sticker and place it on the wall of a bus. I could not read the writing but it did not matter. Whether I could read it or not, it seemed pointless and rather childish to me. Later I checked out a book from the Minneapolis Public Library. To my surprise, on the first page there was a tag much like the one that I had seen on the bus that day. Next to it, the tagger had written something; "I'm a toy now but I will soon be a king. Monk and Ewok are kings now but they were once like me." I thought back to the day on the bus and drew a connection: Tagging is just a simple or the simplest form of graffiti. It requires no artistic talent and has an incredibly simple outcome. The question as to whether any forms of graffiti can be considered art is a controversial issue. Is it vandalism when it is placed on the side of a building or a subway car and art when it is on a canvas on someone's wall or in a gallery- what is the difference? Graffiti, in its complex forms, can be considered art because it contains artistic elements, it communicates the artist's expression to the viewers, and it is already accepted by the art community.

Graffiti has been around for a long time; its birth goes back to the beginning of human society. It has been found in prehistoric times in cave drawings and on the uncovered in ancient Egyptian monuments (Stowers 1). The actual word graffiti stems from two different words. First the Greek word "Graphein," meaning "to write" and secondly, the Italian word "Grafficar," which means "drawings, markings, scribbles, patterns, or messages that are painted, written, or carved on a surface" (Dennant 2).

More recently, in 1971, modern day graffiti began in the streets of New York and soon spread across the world. It started when a young Greek-American boy named Demitrios placed his nickname followed by his street number on the sides of subway cars. His tag read "taki183" and could be seen all over the city (Cooper 14). This soon caught on with a diverse crowd of youths in New York as a way of getting their name seen around the city and acquiring fame. As more and more people caught on to this new thing, the subway cars got more filled with these tags, and soon nothing seemed to stand out. This created the need for the taggers to be notable in order to get their name seen. New style emerged which went beyond the elements of just a normal tag. Writers fought for the position of "King" or "Queen" which meant that, not only did they produce many tags, but style and artistic talents were also taken into consideration (Stowers 2). This meant that the writer had to advance in style, size, color, and creativity, which brought about many new and different forms of graffiti.

Although there are hundreds of different styles of graffiti, there are a few that stand out and are common among graffiti writers. Their intricacy, color, placement, and size distinguish these forms. More complex forms of graffiti containing distinct artistic elements can be considered art, while the beginning forms of graffiti, such as Tags, do not contain these elements and should not be characterized as art.

The simplest form is the tag. Again, the tag is the graffiti writer's nickname displayed as many places as possible in order to gain recognition. This is done by writing with markers, pens, or scratching onto or into a surface. A writer will "bomb"(tag as many places as possible), but if the writer does not go beyond tagging, they will carry little range and be ranked low among other graffiti writers (Dennant 5). Although tagging may be one form of graffiti, it contains no artistic element, does not take any creative talents, and should not be viewed as art. The younger, inexperienced writers are usually the ones that tag and only the few talented ones move on to anything more. Only when the writers advances from this stage of tagging can their work be characterized as art.

As stated in "Graffiti as Art" by George C. Stowers, "Spraypaint separates taggers from artists in that color, form, and style could be emphasized creatively" (Stower 5). With the discovery of spray-paint by writers, new and more colorful styles emerged, starting out with the second form graffiti, the throw-up. This is the simplest form of graffiti that is used to create a large piece of work. This is done by using two colors, one for the outline and one for the fill in, and bubble lettering to display the writer's nickname. The next step up from the throw-up is a stamp. A stamp is a little bit more difficult than the throw-up and involves straight lines that produce a three-dimensional effect. These two forms are still simple in that they contain few colors and are done quickly. Although they are done with speed in mind, they are still more complex than a tag and take some amount of artistic talent. The next two forms take more time and are carefully planned out before they are done. The piece, which is short for masterpiece, is a large multicolored work. The colors and design are carefully chosen ahead of time. This form also takes a lot more time to produce and, therefore, has to be done at odd times in difficult places.

The largest, most elaborate from of graffiti is a production. A production is a piece the size of a mural. It always includes cartoon characters, some of which are made up by the writer and some that are taken from popular comics. Communities or small businesses many times commission these murals. This form also takes much planning. Writers usually do a sketch beforehand, carefully outlining, drawing the characters, and inventing a color scheme (Stowers 5-6). When writers finish planning, they pick their choice of canvas and begin. A Piece or Production is created in steps. First, an outline of the sketch is done in a light color to get the feeling of how things will look on the large scale. Then, it is gone over adding color and background to the work. Different nozels are used on the sraypaint cans to create diverse effects. When everything is in place, crisp outlines are painted with the intent of having no drips. The clearness of a work signifies the talent of the writer (Cooper 32).

The last forms I have mentioned contain artistic elements such as line, shape, color, and dimensions. These elements are the fundamentals of what art is. Graffiti in its complex forms consists of all of these things and therefore fits into the category of art. Many people would argue that since almost all graffiti besides the works that are commissioned, are placed on public property, which makes it illegal and vandalism is reason enough not to consider graffiti art. Also, it is continuing the problem of urban decay by destroying businesses and leaving that area vacant. While police do not want to bother with it, criminals take over. It should not be disregarded just because it is placed in a controversial location or manner. Because it is located in the subway or on public property only defines it as unsolicited art that can be considered vandalism but does not eliminate it from being considered art. As for the problem of urban decay, there are much bigger things going into this dilemma making graffiti seem minute at the least.

No matter where graffiti is placed, it is a way of expressing oneself in an aesthetic manner. According to "Graffiti: taking a closer look," a FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, graffiti writers show "The basic human need to communicate with others" (Grant 1). There are many different reasons why people do graffiti that range from fame, expression, power, and rebellion. Many teens strive to express themselves and find a sense of belonging someplace. In New York, for example, there is a dramatic hierarchy in the social status and the youth of these lower statuses feel insignificant and want to be heard (Denmant 4). Graffiti is a way of showing one's emotions and feelings indirectly to a large range of people. All young people have the desire to express themselves in one way or another and graffiti provides this media. People have been and will continue to do graffiti unless someone offers a better form of self-expression.

Rebellion is one explanation for why one does graffiti (Koshi 1). Whether it is rebellion from family, community, or government, it communicates deep feelings towards that thing. Political issues are many times the topic for graffiti. In the mid 90's and even now, "free Mumia" can be seen on the sides of bridges and buildings. This refers to a controversial political topic: a man, Mumia, on death row that many believe has been wrongfully committed. These people feel strongly about this subject and show that to the public by writing it in places that it may be seen. Graffiti in this way is used to get one's point across to a large, diverse group of people. Graffiti cries out from places that would otherwise not be heard. It is noticed because it is controversial and the point is brought across because of this. It gives the silent a voice. Graffiti is a way for people's views to be heard about a certain issue.

To revolt against some issue through the use of graffiti is one form of rebellion, while graffiti in itself is actually its own form of rebellion (Stowers 6). Since graffiti is illegal, there has to be some good reason why one would risk punishment to perform this. One reason is because, if a writer is good, they will gain fame. Another motive is the fact that people outside of the graffiti world acknowledge it. The simple fact that it creates disagreement is reason enough to keep on doing this thing that is making so many angry.

Another large reason why people do graffiti is to establish a sense of belonging. Graffiti provides people with a way of expression and crews provide them with a sense of belonging. According to T-Kid in the book Subway Art, a crew "is a unit of dudes who work together to achieve a goal: to get up and to go all city." Crews are made up of close friends and other writers; "a bunch of brothers that are down by street law with each other" (Cooper 50). These crews create a strong sense of belonging and community. They also emphasize teamwork. It is said that one writer can always tell another by the paint on their hands and the way they watch the trains as they go by ( Cooper 50). Crews install this needed sense of belonging and make the night world of graffiti a bit safer.

Gangs are not the same as crews but are strongly linked to graffiti. Gangs serve almost the same purpose as crews, to build a sense of belonging, but they have also been known to be associated with violence (Black 4). Crews are different in that they are formed around graffiti and a writer can belong to more than one without any controversy. Gangs are oriented as a sort of family that used graffiti as a way of marking their territory for other gangs to see. This causes territorial wars, which in turn creates gang violence (Grant 2-3). Gangs tag and are among the group that never moves on to anything more complex than that. What they do does not fit into advanced forms of graffiti and does not qualify as art. Gangs and graffiti have been around for a long time. Gangs are related to the lesser side of graffiti and should not be an excuse to expel graffiti as an art form.

There are several reasons why graffiti is done, including fame, self-expression, power, and rebellion. This adds obvious meaning to graffiti that may not have been apparent originally. All art shows some sort of meaning whether indirectly or observably. Graffiti expresses meaningful components that represent the writer's thoughts and feelings in an aesthetic manner, and therefore is another reason why graffiti is art.

Because people have begun to recognize these sorts of elements in graffiti, the art world has already taken it in. When graffiti first began to become popular, the art community noticed it and it began to get more publicity. It soon could be seen in galleries and shows along with the typical art of that time. Shortly after this, graffiti died out in the art world but made a comeback in the 1980's through the hip-hop explosion (Dennant 20).

Hip-hop is composed of four different elements: graffiti being one of them along with rap, break dancing, and DJing. In the 1980's, hip-hop became big with the making of several new movies about this subculture (Dennant 21). This was really the first time that graffiti had been publicized in a positive way by such a large group of people. With graffiti as one of the hip-hop elements, it too became more popular, not just among writers, but among the art community as well.

As the art world took in graffiti, many artists switched from doing street art to gallery art. Keith Haring is a good example. Haring had professional training at a school of visual art but dropped out before he completed his degree. Haring went to New York where Haring first began his work which launched his career as a graffiti artist. It was done in subways of New York and it was and still is extremely recognizable. They regularly include somewhat simple looking chalk drawings of barking dogs, crawling babies, telephones, and outlined human figures (Dennant 21). Haring's work was unlike most graffiti in that it was universally admired by all, other writers and the community as well. It was not long before the art world took another interest in graffiti and gave way to artists like Haring. Some writers switched entirely to gallery art while some remained true to what they knew, subway art. The ones who went mainstream had to change their style somewhat to fit their work on a canvas instead of a train. Many of the artists that did not go mainstream thought that doing so would be selling out. They though that graffiti was made for everyone to see and own, not to be hung in a gallery (Dennant 22).

While graffiti became popular in the art world, the surrounding communities started catching on as well. As more people viewed graffiti as art, many freshly commissioned works began to show up. Small businesses realized that hiring a graffiti artist to paint a mural would cost a lot less and was easier than paying a professional or doing themselves. This is what Pharmacist David Archer did. Archer wanted to paint something on the outside of his building but did not have the money to pay a professional. After unsuccessfully trying to do it himself, a graffiti artist offered to paint whatever Archer wanted for free. He ended up with an anti-drug message that appealed not only to his regular customers but to surrounding teens in that area that seemed to have a problem with pressure to do drugs (Chemist). Graffiti can provide positive and visually pleasing outcomes at a low or no cost at all for small businesses. This is just another way that the world as a whole has already accepted graffiti as a form of art.

Schools too have also seen a need to embrace graffiti as one of society's realities. Most schools have recognized graffiti as something that is currently present and that will continue no matter what people's views on the issue are. As an extreme example, an inner city high school in Brooklyn offers a course called " Hip Hop 101." This course covers four different aspects of hip-hop: how to do graffiti, deejay techniques, break dancing moves, and about rap. The teachers claim that they are not telling kids to do vandalism even though many think that they are. They claim that they are teaching things that are relevant in the student's lives and also making learning more fun (Lehrer). Although this is very rare, it shows that society has already begun to accept graffiti as an art form. Since more people are yielding to graffiti as a form of art, the universal feeling towards graffiti keeps changing.

Even though it seems that people are beginning to change their views, graffiti will always be a controversial issue. The fact that it is a kind of advertisement forced on the public, who many times see it as vandalism, can be viewed differently. People have no say in the public funds that are spent to remove it. It is estimated that graffiti removal and resistance has ended up costing the United States Government and society, over $4,000,000,000 per year and this number is still rising (Dennant 18). This is a lot of money spent on what seems like a wasted effort. The Daily News describes the anti-graffiti plan as like "the child who tries to empty the ocean with a bucket" (Castleman 156). Other methods than just removal have been devised to help in the war against graffiti. Twenty-four hour hot lines have been set up to aid in the arrest of graffiti writers. Also, education programs for youths have been started that explain the negative effects graffiti can have on society (Whitford 9). Although graffiti may be forced on the public, so are flyers, billboards, and advertisements. There is more "trash" on television than can be seen almost anywhere else. Also, if the public does not want to pay, they should stop or help the fight against elimination of legal graffiti walls. Legal graffiti walls provide a safe and easy place for writers to display their work but most of these walls are being abolished. Society may not agree with graffiti in that they are paying for something they may not want, but graffiti is not going anywhere. The destruction efforts are wrongfully placed. There needs to be an alternative instead of just trying to stop it all together.

Graffiti, in its elaborate forms, can be considered art. It contains artistic elements, gives an outlet for self-expression, and has already been accepted by the art community. Graffiti art is confrontational. It conveys a point and gives strength to the silenced. Graffiti is a creative medium in the world of urban expression--it is an urban bred subcluture that has caught on and expanded around the globe. No matter what people think, it is here and is not going away. Many view graffiti as I did that day on the bus. I did not understand what it was or why it was being done, but that is because I was not educated on the subject. Taking a closer look at something always gives a person better insight. When everything is taken in, graffiti is comprised of so much that it being considered art has been justified to say the least. Graffiti is just another form of expression created by the human imagination.