Is it just a bunch of kids wanting to make their mark on the walls, or is it real art? How can The Birth of Venus, by Botticelli, and the graffiti on the walls of New York, be both filed into the same category?
Graffiti can be amazing. It can be just a bunch of people spray-painting a few bad words or faces on the walls of a city, or it can be a giant, melancholy portrait.
Graffiti is nothing like Renaissance painting. It is nothing like Gothic art. It is nothing like so many old-fashioned things. It tagged along with the coming of modern technology and a changing world. But is it considered art?
Well, it depends. Sometimes graffiti 'artists' will take a face and distortion it, swirling it with colours and making it seem almost Piccasolike. Do they do it on purpose, or is it instinct that is born through the push, as the colours blast out and take shape on the walls? If you look at these two, examples, you'll see the similarities between some graffiti and Picasso. Picasso became a world-famous, respected painter. How can these people, who spray this onto city walls, not be acknowledged like that, too?
The right one is Picasso. You see the similarities, of melancholy expressions, distorted faces, a similar use of colors. The first somehow took shape on a wall, the other took shape on a canvas.
Do these artists know how their work is similar to Picasso? It can be abstract art, with a wide variety of colors. We tend to see graffiti as just some kids playing around with colors on the wrong material. Sometimes we're even angry, when the graffiti is covering something nice and ruining an effect.
Take this, for example. Is that considered art? Probably not. It's just a bunch of faded, spray-painted words on a white wall. Sometimes the graffiti can ruin a lot of things, breaking a city's charming look.
But then, again, graffiti can be stunning. It can portray political views, perspectives, arguments, and, more importantly, an artist's view of the world. Artists see the world differently than we do. Some just choose to express it differently.
Graffiti artists may be lonely. They may not be recognized in society, viewed as 'poor'. They may be rejected, they may have no friends, they may be living on the fringes of society. Sometimes these people are invisible, they don't matter in society, and it's not fair. They're not recognized in society.
I don't know for sure, because I've never met a graffiti artist before. But when I look at some graffiti, I think, maybe it's their way to show their views. Maybe it's their way to make their mark, to let their feelings and perspectives blast out onto the wall. Graffiti is expensive. Just a can of spray paint can cost up to 5 dollars, and a can only lasts for a few words. Imagine, making a huge mural. That can cost hundreds of dollars, and it's illegal to spend it like that.
No matter how amazing graffiti can be, it's still illegal. I think the cities should recruit as many graffiti artists as they can, take a room in a museum, and ask them to perform some of their skills as an exhibition. Maybe they can have a huge wall, where they pay graffiti artists to show their talent legally. They could show graffiti artists how much abstract art painters like Picasso have influenced their work, without them knowing it. Just think, there is so much potential in the world, and it's being shown in the wrong way. We can all start to recognize these people and ask the cities to hire graffiti artists, where they will finally be recognized as artists, not as some lonely street kids.
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That's true. When I was in Paris, near the George Pompidou Museum, there is a wall, with some giant graffiti. This was last summer, and all tourists there were awed by it. I heard a man say something like, "That's not a punk graffiti kid, that's real art." It was amazing.
ReplyDeleteYes.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti artists are often living on the fringes of society. They live in the poor suburbs, they spend time on the streets, they're rejected by the rest of society. The take lowly jobs when they're adults, and no one acknowledges them. Graffiti can be a source of relief to them, so they can say, "Hey, look. I did that. People see that." They can express their feelings, no matter how costly it is.
Yep, that's absolutely true!!!
ReplyDeleteBut some people are so unfair. I heard somewhere that a kid doing graffiti at night was shot by a policeman. And the policeman denied it, or something. Anyways, these kids, what they're doing is illegal, but, man, that can be such a source of relief and what they do is art.
OMG, I never noticed that similarity between Picasso and graffiti!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt is absolutely breathtaking. I cannot believe that.
schoolgirlworldreviews has let me down
ReplyDeletethe subject of graffiti is a deep and fascinating one
this was portrayed dully and shallowly
i expected more
I live next to a train track where I can watch the cars go by. My favorite thing to do is look at these murals in amazement. Knowing now how much these artist have to spend to get their medium and how much they risk to create this beautiful new way to portray art! I have a whole new appreciation for these young men and women.
ReplyDelete