Art Industry Issue, graffiti as art

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Studio Art - James Borg
Question 7-Identify an art industry issue that you have studied this year.
-Identify and describe key ideas and/or concerns in the issue.
-What do you think about the issue.
Art Industry Issue
-Is graffiti becoming more of a crime than art and how can it be controlled.

Graffiti originated in New York in the late 1970s. It started off with locals writing their names on walls and subway train just for fame. Before and after that though there were other types of graffiti such as political statements. Graffiti these days is mostly “tagging” which is the act of marking a surface with a quick scrawl, stencils are common in the city and large aerosol pieces are usually found alongside train lines.

The main issue dealing with graffiti these days is how to prevent it. At the same time there are parties that argue we need graffiti and it is an important form of art. Most people trying to prevent graffiti are usually only against the art being produced illegally, that is on private property without permission of the owner.

The main argument against graffiti is that it is mainly tagging and it has no brains behind it all. None of it has any meaning. It is so called art that is only for the hip-hop community. The tags make everything look disgusting because it is messy and unreadable. It gives the impression that the councils do not care. It costs around $200,000 a year to remove from walls and public transport, this money could be better spent. Graffiti is a crime and attracts more crime and gangs. Owners that have had their property vandilised by graffiti artists would want to move some where else. Graffiti on shop windows is bad business.

There have been a range of ideas presented to support graffiti in a good way and prevent it from occurring illegally. Ideas already in practice are
• Designating “high tolerance zones” in lanes in Melbourne CBD (Central Business District), such as Hosier Lane. The purpose of high tolerance zones is to keep graffiti on the streets and not remove it. Artists will be attracted to use the lane to exhibit their art instead of commercial and public buildings.
• Legal murals have been encouraged by councils. This aims keep people inte...

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...people hundreds of people catch the train everyday and see their work. If these walls were legalised the amount of illegal graffiti would probably be reduced by more than half. There are a lot of already legal walls on the train line and most of the time artists ask the owner if their wall can be painted. This should be encouraged.

I like the whole style of the graffiti pieces and the elements used. I am not concerned about trying to get illegal graffiti recognised as a professional art form in the industry. Graffiti was meant to be illegal, that’s the whole point of it. Illegal work will never be appreciated totally by critics because there are too many negatives. Art works in galleries that are based on graffiti might look good but technically it is not graffiti. I will support it as long as it stays creative.

I have pretty much grown out of liking graffiti anyway because it is all the same really. I realised that it does more harm than good and it has lost its meaning, even though it started off putting a name up for fame. Stencil art is good but a lot of it lacks skill and originality. The only way illegal graffiti artists will get properly recognised is by doing legal work.

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