Unpopular opinion: Graffiti is not art.

[Complexion]

There were two cats round my way that would go at it, piece by piece. It was like watching a real time saga unfold because of the constant oneupmanship as the scenes were built around flexing and sending a message to their nemesis. At one point one of them literally wrote a real life wall of text to vent that had us all rolling.

This went on for at least a decade and they both must've lived in the same town as their beef was locked to a few streets so the backstories we'd create were things of urban legend mixed with a childs imagination. Yes, we were easily amused before the internet.

 

[Elim Garak]

Just because it's vandalism doesn't mean it's not art also lol.

 

[blues_funk_reggae]

I like this too. One sees vandalism, I see a collaborative effort of personalities. Look at how varied all the styles are. Even that crusty SEAN tag is dope.

Can I create 'a collaborative effort of personalities' on the front door of your house and/or business?

 

[Stir Fry]

Can I create 'a collaborative effort of personalities' on the front door of your house and/or business?

That's a false equivalency. Personal property and businesses that show they care about the upkeep of their property should be off limits. Anything else is fair game to me. I already said gang stuff and malicious vandalism isn't cool in my book.


My front door, no. I put a lot of effort into the personal aesthetic of my house.


If I owned a building with a dirty back alley and dirty grey door, I wouldn't mind though. It's part of the charm of living in a big city to me. Bandos, utility poles/boxes, neglected and dilapidated structures in general... put some paint where there ain't. I can see why most people won't see beauty in it, but I do. Variety is the spice of life.

 

[Remote]

Just because it's vandalism doesn't mean it's not art also lol.

 

[s@n]

Unpopular opinion:

Graffiti is not art.
It’s vandalism.

Every time I’m riding a train or subway in the city, I have to look at this crap on walls and highways and overpasses and it’s sad.

Most times you can’t even make out what things are supposed to be.

It’s ugly and ruins the beauty of the neighborhood.

To be fair: I’m not talking about commissioned works that may honor some famous person. Frankly that’s just a mural and can be done well.

But these stupid tags and bubble letters have got to go.

Negged.

You’re on a hip hop site dissing graffiti. What is wrong with you folks

 

[Billie Jean]

I like it but i like clean architecture more

 

[Mr. Jack Napier]

Graffiti is part of hip-hop culture. Perfect example of this was 5 pointz.

And this not the first time OP has said some suspect sh*t. He's either white or an uncle Tom.

 

[the elastic]

Street art /= Graffiti for the record

 

[Godless Socialist CEO]

What a dumb thread

 

[Remote]

Negged.

You’re on a hip hop site dissing graffiti. What is wrong with you folks

I’d diss you and your whole family on the coli, ESPN, Facebook, Instagram, MySpace, and on your guestbook on Geocities you dweeb.

 

[karim]

More proof the coli is full of cacs.

 

[Remote]

Graffiti is part of hip-hop culture. Perfect example of this was 5 pointz.

And this not the first time OP has said some suspect sh*t. He's either white or an uncle Tom.

Ain’t nothing suspect about what I think about the Knicks.

 

[Remote]

More proof the coli is full of cacs.

Dique.

 

[Supa]

That's because it's done by black people. Racists always find a way to dismiss black people's art, it's disgusting.

Meanwhile Banksy who does literal gentrified graffiti is perceived as a high value artist.and is a millionaire. GTFOH.

Nah, in NYC when graffiti was taking off during the 70's-80's most taggers were Hispanic and white. You can't really say graf was a black artform. It's street art but not exclusively or close to being predominately black. Futura was half black, Dondi was black, Zephyr was white, Tats Cru Hispanic/white, LEE was Puerto Rican, Lady Pink was South American, etc. It was always diverse.

The illegality, it's urban, non academic, anti elitist nature was why it was condemned. There was a racial component but that was mainly due to people not being able to put tags to faces.

Graf is art legal or illegal. A lot of untalented people were just vandals but the legality doesn't determine the artistic merit the quality does. Perfect example: