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Is Graffiti Art?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by GeSuS_KRiST, Jan 25, 2005.

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Is Graffiti Art?

  1. Yes

    82.3%
  2. No

    17.7%
  1. Bomber4life

    Bomber4life Member

    • Messages: 19
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    I think that mad pieces is art. Just throwies and scribbles are just fun vandalism xD
     
  2. Mormel

    Mormel New Member

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    I think it is all a matter of where you paint and what you paint, but I do it to express myself and to show my art. But sometimes I like to blame on something and than I use it as a way of destruction and to have my name seen. But i'd rather have my name known as an artist than as a vandal. I love to make dirty things more colourful without destroying it.
     
  3. noted

    noted Member

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    Graffiti is, and will always be an art.

    Throw-ups, Pieces, Murals, are the artistic side of Graffiti.

    Tagging, I can't say quite the same. However, some tags DO look nice.

    I can't say we aren't vandals, because our canvas is property.
     
  4. ven0m

    ven0m or Phat2

    • Messages: 1,028
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    it's not art.
    fact proven by its history

    it's fucking tribal politics. it's territorial branding.
    not pansy art.
    people turned it into "art" to sell it and try to make money off it. They tamed it. But the amount of bombers and vadals and respect-worthy, non-sellout writers proves that it's a wild force and cannot/will not be tamed.

    in its purest, rawest an more non-commercial form, graffiti is and has always been about territory.

    long live the underground
     
  5. bomber boy

    bomber boy Member

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    in my opinion i think graffiti is more of a life style and sub culture branching from hip-hop. its like being a child first you crawl then you walk then you run, wheres in graff your tag is your crawl, your simples and basic letter structure is your walk and peices/murals are you running. i would say a vast majority of graff is vandalism although to us graff writers we apreciate a well executed tag or throwy, wheres some one who is out side our circle would see it as vandilism, i think people who arent part of graffiti only appreciate murals and legal walls and dont appreciate the tags and throwies because they dont uder stand or know about the years of practise and work that you have to do before you get to that level of appreciation from the general public. but then again every artist has their own style just as every graffiti writer has their own style, which stays with them all the way from tags up to murals. i think its a good question "is graffiti art?", i dont think there is a straight forward answer to it, depends on who you are, as they say art is very subjective. i suppose art is only classified to be art by the wealthy who can afford to by it and put it in galleries, then people just follow like sheep because they feel like if they dont there not "someone", look at artists like damien hurst i think his "art" is shit but others like it. i mean people call banksy an artist but he started off as a train bomber.
     
  6. Bas

    Bas Senior Member

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    Graffiti covers two fields. On the one hand, there is the territory marking and the rebellion, and on the other hand there is the pure form of art. Depending on the writer's interest, it can be either one of them or both. Indeed, the current forms of graffiti evolved from the spraying of simple words without virtually any color or style, so that its origin lies in the field of rebellion. However, over time, the letters of some of these words became more complicated and colourful, with the writers focusing more and more of an artform rather than on (mere) rebellion and/or territory marking.
    Today, those two sides are both captured under the umbrellaterm 'graffiti,' and it's up to the individual to choose what to do with it. Some people are only interested in the form of art. Others are solely interested in quickly writing their names or tags in their neighbourhood. But most people are somewhere in between those extremes and combine rebllion and/or territory marking with a certain form of art. And of course, one's interests can shift over time from one field to the other.
     
  7. bomber boy

    bomber boy Member

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    you could say graffiti is rebeling against the art world as we dont exhibit in a gallery we exhibit on the streets for everyone to see not just the people who pay to go into galleries or pay for work to be exhibited in galleries
     
  8. Bas

    Bas Senior Member

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    Well, art is not something that is by definition paid for. If the museums would for instance start giving Van Gogh's away for free, would they than all of a sudden stop being art? I think both of us will agree that they will still be art, despite their valuelessness. I understand your point, and I definitely see where you're coming from, seeing what kind of money the rich all too often put into art, but money is not a prerequisite for a piece to be art. That lies more in the eye of the beholder.
    Next to that, there are quite a few writers literally exhibiting in galleries. MadC is the first one that comes to mind, but I've seen many more. And you cannot say that MadC is not making graffiti, right? Furthermore, quite a few skillfull writers are sponsored by brands like Ironlak, Belton, and Montana, so someone is definitely paying them to create their pieces. And that wouldn't happen unless there is money to be made with this sponsorship.
    Finally, that are lots of comtemporary artists that exhibit on the streets, not rarely even in an illegal fashion, so that argument doesn't hold either.

    So in conclusion, to me, graffiti can be art, but it does not necessarily have to be. I'm not a huge fan of just tags, because to me, those almost always decrease the beauty of a certain area (it even makes crap areas look worse). That is not to say that I cannot appreciate a great handstyle in a tag - because I do - but that on their own those are not art to me.
    Pieces, on the other hand, are - if excuted skillfully - definitely art. It requires years and years of practice before the right compositions of lines and colours can be created by writers, so that their pieces strike you when you see them. You want to look at them, you want to see what they have done and how they have done it. And after you've done that, you want to look at them again. This is the same with more accepted forms of art. That, to make, proves that that part of graffiiti can be art.
     
  9. corome

    corome Banned

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    Not art: i dont care more than half of copes shit dosent look good cope2_3663.jpg l.jpg 20120216-192426.jpg

    Art: cookin-throwie.jpg banksy__1273933375_0008.jpg 1-street_art_feb_a.jpg graffity_44.jpg 025_14.jpg
     
  10. DIC3

    DIC3 Member

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    I'd say it's mostly art. But like Venom said, it's also territory.
     
  11. ST△RT

    ST△RT New Member

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    I think bombing, and tagging isnt art, its vandalism. Well all of it is vandalism, but piecing and sreet art to me is just stunning. when im walking down the street and i see a giant piece, all colorful and shit, it blows me away. and street art? Its usually so creative and cool I fucking love it. so its sometimes art, sometimes not.
     
  12. R3bel1995

    R3bel1995 Senior Member

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    Bombing and tagging is vandalism, but I don't think that art needs to look great. After all art is about expression and opinion. If a child colors a picture of a green sky, 4-armed purple person, and a rainbow colored house, and a parent posts the "picture" on the fridge it is considered "art". There is good art and bad art. Regarding Graffiti, i think that it depends on the writer, the style, colors ect. You cant group all graffiti as destruction of property, or vandalism....
     
  13. marshall-uk

    marshall-uk Member

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    you cant say tagging is not art but graff is if no1 tagged no1 would write. A piece is just a bigger more stylish more colourful tag graffiti is an art and so is tagging and bombing
     
  14. R3bel1995

    R3bel1995 Senior Member

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    And a plane is just a car, that's a little longer, and has wings...
     
  15. R3bel1995

    R3bel1995 Senior Member

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    Tagging and piecing are two very different things. It's like reading and writing, you need to know how to do one in order to do the other, but they are not the same thing.
     
  16. Osirus

    Osirus Member

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    The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture,...: "the art of the Renaissance"

    By that definition it is most certainly art. Regardless of how good or bad it is its still art. Now how good this art is, that is what is up for debate. Some people would say certain art pieces that are in Gala's could have been painted by a two year old, doesn't mean it isn't an expression of the artists imagination. I don't know that's my way of looking at it.

    I do agree though it is also vandalism, but that is what many intend it to be, a way to fight back against the system.
     
  17. R3bel1995

    R3bel1995 Senior Member

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    It is vandalism, but before one tries to deny such claims, one must determine, what is vandalism, is all vandalism a bad thing?? Or is it by nature "destruction". Many people view writing as a form of "destruction of property". Now I believe this is where the "good" and "the toy" are separated. A large, wall to wall, multi-colored, complex wild style burner, is both vandalism and art, but is it destruction?? Now compare that to a toy painted throwie...
     
  18. phrasel

    phrasel Member

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    I've read so many people who are talking shit out of their ass, they read a couple posts ahead of theirs pile together ideas from each and then use words and a way of talking that makes them sound educated. I voted that graffiti is art; Noun: Art
    The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture,...:
    by definition graffiti is art we are expressing or applying our creative and imaginative skill to what ever the canvas maybe, black book, mailbox, or wall.

    for all of the people who say graffiti is vandalism look at it this way for a second; Noun: Vandalism
    Action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.

    personally I believe that only a few forms of graffiti are "vandalism" such as etching glass. Painting on a wall is NOT destroying the property, its providing ART ( as previously explained )
    burning your tag into glass is destroying it because they cant simply remove it with some sort of buffer.

    Also, graffiti is GREAT for our economy think about all the money that gets circulated from all types of people to pay for the work, to pay for the removal, and to give cops something to do with their bullshit jobs.
     
  19. blackmath

    blackmath Senior Member

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    In no way to I see graffiti as art. I don't do it to go destroy shit and ruin peoples day. I mostly do it because I just want to get up everywhere. I love when I'm at work, and people come and go and have no idea who I am or what I've done. I like how even if your shit isn't good, once people see it everywhere they start to be like "daaamn ive seen that a lot". I dont know, in a lot of ways it makes me feel better than other people.. Like they look at that shit and they have no idea what kind of person is doing that or anything about them. But like I said, I don't like to destroy shit. I only paint mass company buildings, or bridges, or shit that will be torn down or re painted before its bought by either a local business or private owner. I hate people who write on other peoples personal shit. They worked hard, if not harder, for that shit than we do.

    I dont know, the work thing is my favorite, I love seeing hundreds of people a day and they all have no idea.
    4C994D92-C7E2-4093-B634-DCF741855916.jpg
     
  20. blackmath

    blackmath Senior Member

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    I totally understand where you're coming from man. I dont necessarily believe its not vandalism, but I see where youre at.

    Just see it this way. Yeah the paint can be removed, but you're doing it without the owners permission, thats where it becomes vandalism.