Graffiti: Art or Vandalism

Most people can argue that there is a fine distinction between what is recognized as art and vandalism. The individual is often faced with uncertainty when the topic of graffiti arises. The public often portray graffiti as a destructive act towards his or her surroundings however; graffiti can also be considered a form of self-expression. Many questions can be made pertaining to the graffiti movement, but the main question is graffiti a crime or an art? The answers lie in the complex phrase of “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
Graffiti portrays contemporary sub-cultured art through its versatility and bold attractiveness on the communal grounds. In the 1970s, graffiti was blatantly acknowledged as territorial graffiti where graffitists would “tag” their anonym upon various areas to obtain great recognition from other graffitists. The graffiti era began with the simple use of characterized letterings which sooner evolved to creatively embellishing large murals. Its daring and unique presentation captured the attention of the competition so as the audience expanded, so did graffiti. It has progressed from a competitive activity for street credibility to an expressive form of street art. The mastery of graffiti has become a part of subculture with its raw and defiant nature presented within the streets and the media that its legitimacy as a form of art is starting to finally be recognized by the public.
First off, what is street art? Street art is considered as any art that is publicized in the “streets” oppose to territorial graffiti meant to display a message. The following states, “It represents the desire of humans to leave traces of their existence in the public sphere.”(Chung 25) .It was the works of early artists such as Jenny Holzer and Richard Hambleton in the mid-1970s, and later Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring in the 1980s, who have conspired with the street art movement. However, “today, the line that distinguishes street art from