Graffiti Art?

[Insane14]

I think so, leave your reply's, trash talk etc. :rendered:

[donkeyslayer]

search for it (http://conceptart.org/forums/search.php?searchid=546822)

[talmir]

In the right places, with the right message then its cool and I can consider it art. But when its scribbled on some wall in the subway tunnels saying something like "F**K YOU, BIT*H". Then, no. Not art.

[IanE]

I've seen some amazing stuff done with spraypaint and a couple buckets of neon colors and glow in the dark... I hate tagging... but there are lots of local groups that will paint over parts of cities that have gang graffiti and all that crap and replace it with graffiti in the form of art, really awesome stuff.

I say yes if it's done for the sake of art, not for any other reason.

[cotron]

i pay taxes for a lot of what is around.... i don't mind decorating my property.

[idio is this]

my friend mike is a graffiti artist, he got payed to do an alley way behind a local skate shop. it's beautiful.

[Badger]

Around here, there seems to be a decent amount of message going into the graffiti. I see quite a lot of stickers, little plays to society. I like it when it's subtly like that, not END THE WAR NOW.
Keeps people thinking.
-Badger-

[stoph]

sticker art is the grandest form of willful destruction of public and private property. tagging ones initials on a train-cab is not art. making a battlescene in a secluded alleyway is. google some sticker art, theres some very very sweet stuff popping up everywhere :}

[Cthogua]

The nature of graffiti makes it artful in my mind (maybe not "art" in the sense of something you would see in a gallery...but that's artificial for its own reasons.) Especially tagging. Writing your name on something that isn't yours seems pretty banal at first. However that very act is an individual in the most comsuming-unindividual thing ever created, the city, saying "here I am." I know your average gang-banger throwin up his gangs name on a wall to mark where they sell crack isn't some lofty, intellectualized thing, but I would say that kind of graff is really the minority.

Graffiti didn't start with gangs...or in New York or any time in recent history. People have been writing their names and affiliations on public walls since they could write. There is a substantial amount ( or so I've read anyway) of graffiti, mostly just names and phrases, in the catacombs below Rome that date to when early chrisitans were meeting down there because their superstition was illegal to practice openly (around the 2nd to 3rd century AD) As far as style goes...wildstyle graffiti, and its current incarnations, is basically just calligraphy with spraypaint. There are some peices that are intentionally difficult/impossible to read as a matter of style. An interesting corelation to that is in older arabic art, there are styles of calligraphy and types of decoration that intentionally distort the letterforms into almost unreadable shapes for the sake of aethetics. Part of the reason for something like that to develop is Islam's prohibition on representing anything directly through pictures...They say it is creating an idol. So the mosques (older ones anyway) are decorated with geometric patterns and calligraphy, and the artists, not being able to draw pictures of "things" turned to perfecting the art of pattern and geometry...which I think they did...WOW...I'm way off topic, its almost 4am, and I'm ranting about art history. Sorry 'bout that.

So...yeah, I think graffiti is art...maybe not your idea of art, but that leaves 99.9999% of the rest of the world to decide what they think art is.


James Ball

[Insane14]

Thanks for all of the replies :^^:
check out-

12ozprophet.com- it is a forum but theres some pretty good guys.

Artcrimes.com- all the links in the world.

stencilrevolution.com- stencil art.

:tihi:

[el coro]

fukkin represent.-c36

[Insane14]

Hey El coro I f you dont mind I'd like to see one of your peices :teeth: I'm not that good, I'll try and get a friend of mine up though. whatever...

[JustinBeckett]

I use to spray. Back in the day...anyhow, get chased by cops and all that good stuff from it :P and i didnt do gay fuck you bitch stuff either, cause i also dont like that. I think thats one of the ways i started drawing...Is by graffiti. I use to sit in school and draw crazy graf designs all day long. Its good fun. I still do some graf once and a while. As for me liking it, i love it :)