By: Bianca Galan
Graffiti is everywhere. You can’t walk the streets of New York without finding a few works of graffiti on the buildings or construction walls. You can’t walk through Wynwood without finding graffiti everywhere.
Graffiti is the spray painting of drawings or writing of words in different styles and forms, but we often hear the word graffiti and think negatively. Many of us see graffiti and only think about the fact that it might be illegal instead of thinking about the piece of art. Art isn’t the legality of something, but the creativity and meaning behind it. Who says art has to be legal?
Graffiti can be considered vandalism, but there are those with a creative eye who will always find a message or meaning in it. Graffiti, to me, is art. Art is expressed and shown in many forms like singing, dancing, drawing and writing. We all see art differently. My creativity makes me see a simple line as a work of art, while someone who isn’t creatively inclined might just see the line as property damage. Just because graffiti is often vandalism because the artist didn’t get permission doesn’t mean that it isn’t art.
Location of graffiti often affects our opinion of it. If you see a wall that says “Art is not a crime” in the middle of nowhere, you might think it’s hideous and a sign of disrespect since it may be written illegally. Yet when we see the same graffiti at the Young Circle in Hollywood, the first thing many people think is, ‘Wow. This is so simple, yet beautiful,’ and take pictures of it. The location of the graffiti shouldn’t change your opinion. We judge what we see by what we assume instead of the truth. Just because we might think someone illegally painted on a wall doesn’t mean they didn’t get permission.
In “The Soul of Man under Socialism,” Oscar Wilde said, “Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.”
Graffiti is beautiful because it is someone’s way of expressing his or her story or dreams. One word or figure can mean the world to someone. People have their own personalities, thoughts and experiences, and sometimes a work of graffiti can be their way to show it to the world. Artists can be vandals, but that doesn’t mean vandals can’t be artists. Art doesn’t have to be legal to be art. I wouldn’t mind waking up one day with graffiti on my wall.
Credit: B. Galan
Caption: Art isn’t the legality of something but the creativity and meaning behind it.
