What is the purpose of graffiti?

It is apparently the human equivalent of peeing on telephone poles to mark ones territory, at least for some young male humans. Much of it is so beautifully done as to approach art. However, the fact that the graffiti artist doesn’t own the canvas he uses makes it a problem.

If you graffiti your own fence or building it is freedom of expression. If you graffiti mine without my permission it is defacing my property and thus criminal. Take Keith Haring as an example. If he only did his work on other people’s property he would be arrested. But if he does it on his own canvas it is art that can sell for nice pieces of change.

All of the above.

Have you ever seen the Ace of Cakes? Duff started his art “career” as a graffiti artist. He’s described it as everything you wrote in your description.

It is mischief. It is a form of machismo. It’s a way of gaining a rep. It is expression. It is vandalism. It is art. Many functions.

As to purpose? Doesn’t that go to motivation of a person? Isn’t that unique to everyone? Kind of unknowable, I think.

What type of graffiti? That is an extremely general term. Many consider Keith Haring’s work, a NY ‘graffiti’ artist, as art, whereas most of the same people would share the same sentiments about, say, tagging.

I would say it depends on the genre of graffiti, if that’s even a correct way to phrase it. Someone like Banksy’s purpose might be somewhat political, while others simply mark their territory or advertise their neighborhood.

It’s a dessert and a floor wax.

To show the world that you’re a noncontributing zero?

@holden that seems unfair to a kid in the projects with no money for canvasses, doesn’t it?

And, tagging is different than graffiti

@SpatzieLover a kid in the projects can read a damn book. Don’t deface my property because you’re bored.

@SpatzieLover – That depends on who you are asking. My dad wouldn’t think so; neither does the dictionary
graf⋅fi⋅ti
  /grəˈfiti/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [gruh-fee-tee] Show IPA
Use graffiti in a Sentence
See web results for graffiti
See images of graffiti
–noun
1. pl. of graffito.
2. (used with a plural verb) markings, as initials, slogans, or drawings, written, spray-painted, or sketched on a sidewalk, wall of a building or public restroom, or the like: These graffiti are evidence of the neighborhood’s decline.
3. (used with a singular verb) such markings as a whole or as constituting a particular group: Not much graffiti appears around here these days.

I know what you saying and I agree, in the context of the urban usage of these terms, but graffiti is an umbrella term encompassing many forms marking on walls, objects, etc.

I agree that it can be vandalism, but in my hometown the artists got a legal place to express their art.
There are always people busy with their spray-cans, day and night, and i see some nice pieces every now and then.
And it’s quite succesfull, because on other locations it stays pretty clean.

@rebbel I whole heartily agree every teen should have an outlet for art. We have a few in cities near me, but they aren’t large enough in Milwaukee.

it depends on the graffiti. gangs do their visual equivalent of territorial urination, artists want to beautify the landscape and/or make a statements and/or mourn the dead, smart asses make with the Wildean quips.

Some do it in bathroom stalls…

@peedub we have places near us that have painted the stalls with chalkboard paint to encourage it

This graffiti is pretty cool.

@SpatzieLover – I’ve seen that more and more lately. The bar downstairs has one. It’s interesting to see the difference in content between, say, a college town or even campus bathroom vs. a gas station in Fresno (no offense to any Fresnoians) vs. a filthy stall in the Lower East Side.

A nice Banksy piece

http://www.moillusions.com/2007/12/julian-beevers-new-3d-sidewalk.html

Do you think that this is graffiti?

@Raean I’ve sent that out as an email to friends in the past…LOVE that ART!

http://www.rense.com/general67/street.htm

This is more of his work for those of you who haven’t seen it…

What’s the general concensus?

@Raean that’s art, not graffiti.

Some people might argue that point. He is drawing on someone else’s property…

It’s both, that’s one of the reasons it’s so cool.

Some of my favorite moments urban exploring have been stumbling upon rooms that have, over the years, become massive canvases. Graffiti isn’t always the product of a jackass spraying squiggles all over a wall; just as often there is a phenomenal amount of talent and creativity being displayed.

I don’t mind graffiti, most of it isn’t that bad. What I do have a problem with are tags all over the place, dozens of them. So while we are at it, can someone explain the purpose of these tags to me? Is it some kind of territorial pissing contest?

I read somewhere that skaters leave them behind on hard to reach places where to performed some kind of trick or something but I’m not sure if that’s true.

I have mixed feelings about graffiti, but I did watch this documentary that helped me understand it a little bit more. It’s called Piece by Piece: A San Francisco Graffiti Documentary. http://www.piecebypiecemovie.com/ You can netflix it, it’s pretty interesting.

@Raean Doesn’t that artist use pastels/chalk? I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that his works are temporary. If that’s true, I don’t see how anyone could object to that at all! Beautiful stuff.

graffiti can be both dumb mischief or artistic expression.

People that spray “bitch” or something else pointless on a building or train car, thats pretty lame. But i have also seen graffiti that, if i had an art gallery, i would very much like to showcase it.

This discussion just reminded me… In high school (in the 80s), a classmate of mine was a known (and great) graffiti artist – on the sly, of course. Well, he got caught defacing school property one night. Rather than have him arrested, the school asked him to graffiti an entire hallway in the school… sort of a community service art project. Kept him busy for weeks and we got an awesome hallway out of the deal. I thought that was brilliant.

I’ve got Keith Haring’s Bill T. Jones poster hanging on a wall in my kitchen.

@holden theres actual people who get paid to bomb a certain wall because some people enjoy it, you are just being ignorant. Black booking is what i do also, which is just graffiti on paper…..Graffiti is art, tagging is a crime.

I have a problem with 90% of the graffiti i see. The way i see it is, if your going to do it, do something artistic, something meaningful. Dont be fucking stupid and write your name or some bullshit message.

Blu’s stuff is awesome.

@uberbatman That was both awesome and disturbing.

I always thought it was just mischief, kids that wanted attention.
However, after meeting some of them and getting to know them I could better understand their actions. They believe it’s an art and graffiti lets them express themselves. Of course, not all individuals do it for that sake, I’m sure there are kids that do it for rebellion and other reasons.
I don’t think that the reason for graffiti should be a stereotyped one.

Some guys at school who were into tagging did their very best to tag the most obscure, dangerous, or impossible-to-reach locations for their tags, purely so people would see them and think “How the hell did they do that?” – this led to more kudos within the peer group and then the desire to reach even more bizarre places to tag.

Technically it is art as it serves no purpose other than an asthetic one (the paint isnt there to seal the wall).

Many believe that an object isn’t art if it serves any other practical purpose (though i don’t agree).

While I won’t deny the talent of some graffiti producers nor the beauty of some of their work, if I pay to have a wall built on my property and I select the materials and any paint or decoration that goes on the wall, I would be big-time pissed off if anyone comes along and puts permanent paints on it, no matter how wonderful the work. Note that I have already had to be certain my wall meets any standards required by where I live and my neighbors.

Towns that provide surfaces for graffiti are doing a very good thing. Sure, it might take the “lure of the forbidden” out of the artist’s experience, but it is still free expression, art, attention-getting, and so on, without imposing on some poor schmuck who wants his wall to be one solid color, or who spent a long time picking precisely the brick color and texture.

I must admit that as a bystander I do sometimes enjoy the colors and patterns of graffiti on train cars as a welcome change from watching several hundred identical tankers go by, but then I am not Union Pacific and I don’t own those cars.

A (desperate) plea for acknowledgment and appreciation.