I Want To Graffiti Tagging

Graffiti - I Want To Graffiti Tagging

It doesn't matter where you live in the world, chances are you've seen graffiti somewhere around your local community. It seems to spring up in every culture, although it tends to be more prevalent in big cities.

But is it vandalism? Or is it art? That's a difficult question to answer, mainly because there are so many different types and styles of graffiti. The most basic form of graffiti is "tagging" - which is usually a simple graphic, usually letters, perhaps a play on the creator's initials or nicknames. Often small and monochrome, it's probably one of the most annoying and frustrating types of graffiti, because it is small enough to deface almost any surface, and is almost universally condemned as having no artistic merit.

Graffiti, however, isn't restricted to tagging. On larger surfaces, many graffiti artists employ multiple colors and intricate designs to create their pictures. This is the type of graffiti that starts to cross the line into being artistic. It's this type of graffiti art that is now being showcased in a number of art galleries, both in the USA and around the world.

The other problem with graffiti as art is that the issue is clouded by the location of the art. If some of these stunning designs were created on a canvas, or a wall specially set aside for the purpose, then it would be easier to recognize them as art. Unfortunately most graffiti is placed on private property, without the owner's consent, and so is less likely to be viewed as a welcome addition.

Around the world, communities and governments have become more vigilant in their attempts to reduce the amount of graffiti. In many places there are community groups or government funded teams who guarantee to clean up graffiti in 24 hours after it's reported. Trains in New York were given new coatings that allowed paint to just be "dissolved" off their surfaces.

In my own local area, the sale of spray paint to persons under 18 is illegal, and all spray paints are kept in locked display cupboards. Another area has a team of painters who regularly go around and repaint any fences that have been covered in graffiti. One homeowner I know has had his fence repainted 7 times so far! Over time, however, the amount of graffiti reappearing is reducing, which is a victory for the opponents of graffiti.

Still, simply removing the problem may in fact be a loss to the artistic community in general. If graffiti is considered in its most highly refined form, then are we in fact stopping artistic development in its tracks by making it impossible for budding graffiti artists to practice their craft?

When you illegally deface someone else's property, no matter how beautiful the art you create, you have still committed a crime. Maybe what we need to do is find ways that graffiti artists can learn and practice their craft, without needing to deface hundreds of properties in the process. Some communities now provide blank spaces and invite local graffiti artists to paint them. Others have graffiti walls, where anyone can paint whatever they want.

Maybe there needs to be a shift in the thinking of graffiti artists, so they can discover the value of painting on paper, rather than walls. Would the great painters of the past still be as famous today if they had painted on walls, rather than on canvas? The problem is complex, so finding a solution that makes everyone happy is unlikely to be simple.

1.
... to individuals and groups that want to take responsibility for ... and/or neighbourhoods. Graffiti awareness education ... aware of the consequences of tagging and rewards them for adopting ...
http://www.aucklandcity.g ...il/services/graffiti/

2. Hip Hop clothing and music styles
... aint sure we can answer or even want to for that matter but what is ... Hip Hop Art - Graffiti Graffiti bombing (practise of ... s by Taki183 from Washington. Tagging has been traced back to one ...
http://www.theurbanshop.co.uk/main/hip-hop.asp

3. Gold Coast City Council - Graffiti
... There are only a handful of people who want to spoil it. They call themselves graffiti artists, but theyÄôre not. TheyÄôre just vandals. They call it tagging, but itÄôs just damage; damage to ...
http://www.gccc.com.au/t_standard.aspx?pid=45

4. Knowing Art by PJ Brunet » Survey
... youll need to get fancy if you want to take your tracking a step ... Interview Library Metadata Tagging Music Privacy Process ... mp3 to myspace" ( Google ) graffiti myspace layouts ( Google ...
http://survey.knowingart.com/

5. We’re not pro-graffiti, anti-street art
... formally, has nothing on tagging; it benefits from it s legacy ... for your poster, it is graffiti, and it is someone the voice ... beef with it, go over it if you want, but be clear you are going ...
http://www.streetartblows.com/proanti.htm

6. Knowing Art by PJ Brunet » Robot
... its also my problem because I want to have many categories here ... Interview Library Metadata Tagging Music Privacy Process ... mp3 to myspace" ( Google ) graffiti myspace layouts ( Google ...
http://robot.knowingart.com/

7. The Stylephile
... and breakdancing, graffiti artists and DIY graffiti tagging, a screening of Dave Chappelle's "Block ... ... to a Marie Marie sample sale is that you'll want to buy the entire lot of dresses and topsa ...
http://www.thestylephile. ...g/330000033-9474.html

8. Netdiver Bookshelve -> Picks and Reviews 2006
... Stencil Graffiti Capital Melbourne by Jake Smallman & Carl Nyman Review: Tagging falls into ... ... as well as isolating the features that you want most standing out. Coupled with the not so ...
http://www.netdiver.net/t ...bookshelves/bk_06.php

9. Ventura County Star: Oxnard
... a citizenship fair Saturday for immigrants who want to start the long march toward U.S. citizenship ... ... on suspicion of writing graffiti throughout Oxnard on behalf of their tagging crew, officials said ...
http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/ox/

10. Knowing Art by PJ Brunet » Wine
... fails, the banks surely dont want your barrels and barrels of ... Interview Library Metadata Tagging Music Privacy Process ... mp3 to myspace" ( Google ) graffiti myspace layouts ( Google ...
http://wine.knowingart.com/

11. Hexapedia - Graffiti
... have a political aim. Many just want their art to be seen by the ... new technologies into street graffiti art, Banksy, probably the ... and others. A new form of tagging was created around 1995 in ...
http://www.hexafind.com/encyclopedia/graffiti

12. stabani.com: techie’s ramblings » 2006 » June
... upcoming redesign. Actually, graffiti is now officially dubbed ... bulkysomething that I do not want. So what am I to do? In ... take a look at technorati, or tagging for that matter of fact, and ...
http://www.stabani.com/archives/date/2006/06/

13. Lawlink NSW: Crime Prevention
... crime is not effective. If we want to prevent crime and reduce ... and the community, that being graffiti committed by young people ... Against the Wall deals with tagging and legal walls. back to top ...
http://www.graffiti.nsw.g ...ages/crime_prevention

14. Designing Genres for New Media
... communities. The principal object of design, I want to suggest, is the genre. I have already ... ... papers statistical tables Romantic poems "tagging" graffiti classified advertisements the blues ...
http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/genre.html