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Issue 189 » News Features
Graffiti: Art or vandalism? (Issue 189)


Selina Cuff 26 February 2007 (Issue 189)
And though present in ancient times - early graffiti can be seen on ancient walls in Pompeii and Rome - it is often seen as having burst onto the underground scene in the late 60s, coming out of American ghettos and being associated with political subversion and disenchanted youths. Unsurprisingly, having its roots in an often violent and disadvantaged environment has forever tarnished graffiti with the stigma of vandalism and criminality.
However, with the announcement on 10 February that a graffiti wall mural was being sold by a Devon art gallery, it is hoped that the art world, and society, are beginning to embrace graffiti. The 25ft by 6ft piece by Bristolian graffiti artist Banksy is situated on the side of a house in Mivart Street near Easton. The owners of the house were unaware of the piece being created back in 2004, having let the house out to students who did not report it when it appeared. The owners now wish to sell the house but were horrified to find that most prospective buyers would paint over the mural. So they have taken the unusual step of selling the mural, with house attached, through an art gallery. Red Propeller Gallery in Devon is hoping the piece will sell for excess of £200,000, the reported sum Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt paid for a Banksy canvas last year. This unconventional method of selling a house with the condition of preserving the graffiti marks a growing acceptance and popularity of an art medium often referred to as vandalism. But while celebrities may be forking out for Banksy pieces and galleries are selling houses which would have previously been considered defaced, other aspiring graffiti artists still face the prospect of criminal charges, ASBOs and prison time for destruction of property.
Epigram spoke to a University of Bristol student and graffiti artist, who wished to remain anonymous, about his art, including a work in progress in his rented room in Bristol (pictured). The student said the motivation for creating the pieces in his room was that, "the police can't bother me in my room. You can spend more time in your room, doing things that you can plan and draw first. It has taken me about 3 months because I am a slower worker, yeah there is a certain aspect of 'yeah I do graffiti I would like my room saying that as well'. And there is part of it that is me trying to keep out of the way of the police, doing it somewhere safe where I can see what I am doing rather than doing it in the dark. I got heavily busted when I was about fourteen - I got told if I ever wrote in the town again I would be sent straight to court. So that put me off doing illegal pieces - now I stick to doing legal pieces which I enjoy
more because I can take my time over them."
There are obvious problems with doing graffiti in your student let, mainly the landlord's reaction, something our student is fully aware of: "He doesn't know, and hopefully he will never find out. It is probably cheaper to buy a massive bucket of paint and paint over it then get into a massive argument with the landlord about it being art."
Recently, there have been further calls from the graffiti community for more designated spaces for graffiti: "I personally think the government should sanction more walls, and give people the oppurtunity to do good graffiti art," our anonymous student told Epigram. The acceptance of graffiti by authorities and societies is a growing feature of other European countries. Countries such as Spain and Italy that have strong artistic traditions - being the homelands of some of the greatest artistic movements - have embraced graffiti, providing commissions and allowing graffiti artists space in which to perfect their art. "As long as people aren't going around spraying paint on museums you can get away with doing it in broad daylight and I think that is a beautiful thing, they [Spain] are accepting it," said the anonymous student, who has studied the graffiti in Spain. It is thought by many in the graffiti community that if English authorities and communities embraced graffiti as our Spanish and Italian counterparts have then the standards of English graffiti would noticeably improve, giving cities beautiful murals like the ones displayed here. "I love walking around the city and seeing bits of graff, it gives so much beauty, it really brightens places up," the student noted. The acceptance of graffiti by these countries has created a huge portfolio of amazing art - you only have to perform a quick Google search to see the prevalence of European graffiti, with Italy and Spain providing 9,420 and 4,530 images respectively, while an English graffiti image search gives only 867 returns.
As our student explains, "it is about how society deal with it - if you ostracise people doing graff then they won't get good; if people would appreciate that some graffiti art is good then it is quite easy to see what is good and what is bad, but it is too ingrained in public minds that all graffiti is bad. I have been told that graffiti is what is bringing society down."
But the tides indeed seem to be changing, and in part this can be seen to be down to the work of artists like Banksy, who have been accepted into the mainstream having exhibits in London and LA and selling pieces through well respected institutions like Sothebys - this month the auction house sold a piece by Banksy
entitled 'Bombing of Middle England' for £102,000. Graffiti is becoming slowly incorporated into English conventional culture, many popular brands are using tagging styles for logos, and the use of graffiti in advertising is also growing. And English graffiti artists are being commissioned by festivals and other artistic institutions and events to do murals and big pieces. The University of Bristol student himself has been commissioned to do murals, an example of a collaborative piece he undertook two years ago being pictured below. Being commissioned and therefore producing legal pieces has left our anonymous student keen to do more. "It is great, you get the time and safe to do something beautiful. There was a group of us and we got to spend all day in the sun painting the piece, got pissed in the evening and then were back out there the next morning."
Even the University of Bristol Students' Union is riding the waves of change. UBU treasurer Matt Seow told Epigram that he personally could not see any reason why graffiti artists could not give union property, like the rather lifeless Union car park, a facelift if students were interested: "Management would be fine with it as long as it doesn't cause any health & safety issues [like making the car park any darker]."
Yet even despite this seeming open-mindedness on the part of union, Matt Seow went on to tell us that while "the Union does not discriminate against graffiti art itself," it would not "be able to authorise a graffiti society if the activities to be carried out are illegal. Even if we were to allow a society to set up, that still would not give them permission (nor make it any more legal) to decorate walls around Bristol. However, if graffiti is only carried out where there is permission, we would not take issue with allowing a graffiti society."
It would seem that English artistic culture and particularly Bristol student culture is beginning to embrace graffiti for its own artistic merits rather than for the allure of underworld and criminality that once graced the art, giving it an air of rebellion but also a long-standing label of vandalism. Hopefully the government will follow suit and allow graffiti to brighten our dank and lifeless walls. Yet, with the continued clamping down on graffiti artists or 'vandals' and the increasing number of schemes to catch them, such as the latest initiative of London council to take pictures of local artists' tags in the hope they can trace the offender (or artist), it appears that the government and society are far from embracing graffiti as their traditionally more radical and forward thinking siblings - the art and student cultures - are.
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