graffiti art

Graffiti art is an art form. The reasons, including aesthetic criteria, as to why it is an art form far outweigh the criticism of illegality, incoherence, and nonstandard presentation. The objective of this paper is to explain how graffiti art overcomes these concerns and thereby can be considered as an art form. Suppose that Leonardo, Monet, Picasso, or any of the recognized artisans of Western European culture were alive in the present day. Then, suppose that one of these famous artists decided to paint a masterpiece on the side of your house or on your front door or on a wall in your neighborhood. Would Picasso or Monet’s markings be graffiti or art or vandalism or graffiti art? The answer may vary across people, but I would claim that those markings are art in the form of graffiti. Their markings would qualify as vandalism only if they appeared on private or public property without permission. The same answer holds for the present day, genre of graffiti known as graffiti art. Graffiti art originated in the late 1960’s, and it has been developing ever since. However, it is not readily accepted as being art like those works that are found in a gallery or a museum. It is not strictly denied the status of genuine art because of a lack of form or other base aesthetic elements. Most of the opposition to graffiti art is due to its location and bold, unexpected, and unconventional presentation, but its presentation and often illegal location does not necessarily disqualify it as art. In this paper, I elucidate how some forms of graffiti can be accepted as art. This type of graffiti is known as graffiti art, subway art, or spraycan art. The arguments of vandalism and unconventional presentation as negating the ability of some graffiti to be art is usurped by an explanation of those properties apparent in some forms of graffiti that do qualify it, aesthetically, as art. To show this, I provide a historical context of graffiti, and then I provide persuasive evidence that graffiti art is art. The origins of graffiti go back to the beginnings of human, societal living. Graffiti has been found on uncovered, ancient, Egyptian monuments, and graffiti even was preserved on walls in Pompeii. Graffiti is the plural form of the Italian word grafficar. In plural, grafficar signifies drawings, markings, patterns, scribbles, or messages that are painted, written, or carved on a wall or surface. Grafficar also signifies “to scratch” in reference to different wall writings ranging from “cave paintings”, bathroom scribbles, or any message that is scratched on walls. In reference to present day graffiti, the definition is qualified by adding that graffiti is also any unsolicited marking on a private or public property that is usually considered to be vandalism.

25. May 2017

Impregnated Town House

On May 20, 2017, the Night of the Museum and the Gallery were held throughout Slovakia. An exception was not Nitra. In the premises of the […]
23. April 2017

Film Festival Trenčianske Teplice

The International Film Festival in Trenčianske Teplice offered several thematic sections and one competition tour of short and medium-sized works of film school students. His program […]
23. April 2017

International Roma Day

The 3rd annual celebration of the International Roma Day in Prague was carried out in the spirit of the motto MEAT TOTAL. The rich program lasted […]
23. April 2017

Folklore graffiti ZSE

Energetic Folklore graffiti by TRAKT took place on 24th and 31st March 2017 in front of STEJDŽ (alternative club in Trenčín). The exterior of STEJDŽ provided […]
23. April 2017

She had seventy skirts

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19. March 2017

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The event Festival of light, Bratislava, 22nd-24th August 2016, is produced as a dialog between high-tech and science on the field of photonics and living in […]
19. March 2017

Dark Matter Spray

Two artist from TRAKT art group – Lukáš Matejka and Pavol Soukal – prepared an interactive project called Dark Matter Spray for DIG gallery in Košice. […]
19. March 2017

23. International Dubnica Folklore Festival

International Dubnica Folklore Festival (DFF) was founded on 1994 by a group of young people interested in folklore and former members of the FS Vršatec. Their […]
19. March 2017

Folklore graffiti

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1. August 2016

Folk graffiti

An interactive projection ‘Folk graffiti’ was held at the occasion of the award ceremony of Bratislava Design Week on 11 une 2016. Ornaments were livening up […]
1. August 2016

Europe Day and digital graffiti

Europe Day was celebrated at the Main Square in Bratislava on 9 May 2016. An unforgettable atmosphere was created by music bands Fragile and Fallgrapp , […]
26. January 2016

Festival of Light and shadow 2015

Festival of light and shadow with the tagline Light and shadow in the art and science not only brightened the historic center of Banská Bystrica city, […]
26. January 2016

Digital graffiti

Innovative project for the public space digital graffiti (Watch report TV Markíza), the intermedia artists Pavol Soukal, Štefan Oliš and Lukas Matejka decided to implement based […]