Graffiti: a Thin Line Between Art and Vandalism

Nowadays, many major cities around the world begin to change their attitude with street graffiti artists and set aside some public space for their freedom of creation. Thus, many high-value creative graffiti artworks have been created, attracting local people and tourists, and becoming a collectible object of many art lovers. In fact, Basquiat painting sells for $110 million, becoming the most expensive work by an American artist. Marica Brown is the current poet laureate for the city of Portland, Maine and in the text “Maine’s First Graffiti Artist” she had an interview with Mike Rich who is a carpenter, father, and professional graffiti artist of South Portland. This article describes about Rich’s personal life. He thinks that the graffiti is better than art because the artist doesn’t have to be famous to express once feeling and now few people whom use their talent to help other people. Although some people feel graffiti is the art, it should be controlled because it is defacing other people’s property, it is too expensive for Graffiti Removal, and it has a negative influence for children. 

The graffiti should be controlled because it is the cause to destroy another property. Graffiti appeared in Vietnam in the 2000s and gradually became a trend among Vietnamese youths, the paintings gradually appeared in public places without permission so the graffiti school 'squeezed leg on the neck 'that run is common. Many groups go to construction sites, barriers or rent a wall to try. According to a first-generation graffiti player in Vietnam, this new, unfamiliar art form attracts many young people to join because it is a means of expressing themselves, asserting themselves. Many young people, regardless of the place, time to create the painting, the more unique, the more you feel yourself as a graffiti player 'profession.' However, it is this action that makes street art criticized, from art to smudge. The fact that the Thien Nien pagoda (Tay Ho - Hanoi) - a thousand-year-old pagoda was smeared with graffiti, a wall nearly 100 meters long, was gravely ill to people and inappropriate Buddhist culture in Vietnam. The temple and the local government had to repaint the walls to restore the temple as well as the sanctity of the temple. Not only that, a series of places such as the old town, the bridge crossing the road, the door of the people are graffiti freely. Sometimes, the following pictures overlap with the previous figure, making the scene more sluggish. Following the previous point, I don’t agree when Rich shows his opinion about graffiti is better than art, to me both graffiti and art are similar because they both express dipper thoughts and emotions. In other hand, there are someone can not recognize what different between making an art and defacing a property. In the graffiti world, painters are not only gaining respect for their creativity, their drawing skills, but also their reckless approach to dangerous positions king spot or paradise location. Therefore, there are people who risk their lives to draw graffiti on the bridge, railroads, high-rise walls. 

In fact, in many cities around the world, graffiti is epidemic, and it is difficult to control it’s cost a lot money for remove the graffiti. Every year, big cities such as New York, London, Chicago spend millions of dollars to erase the painless paintings and to hire more security personnel to build buildings. In many countries, drawing graffiti on public transport is considered a violation of law, and the perpetrator is subjected to a great deal of penalties, as this behavior causes great physical and mental damage. In the United States, every year. The carriers spend 15 to 18 million dollars to find, erase and repair the consequences of graffiti indiscriminately. The British Rail Network reports it has spent 3.5 million euros a year removing graffiti paintings on board. British Rail Traffic Police statistics show that 'graffiti offenses' are increasing across the UK, with 2,498 cases reported in 2017, up from 1,413 in 2013. In 2018, London recorded the highest number of graffiti-related offenses since 2013. In Singapore, the penalties for the dirty railroad station are quite heavy, with the highest possible rate of 1,471 dollars three years imprisonment and 8 lashes. In 2015, a court in Singapore fined two German tourists, Andreas Von Knorre and Elton Hinz, for nine months in jail, with three whips for graffiti on the island's railroad. In March, the police in Victoria, Australia arrested nine young men aged 20 to 31 and a 46-year-old woman accused of ... 700 counts involving 145 graffiti attacks. The Australian authorities regard this as a dangerous crime, organized by the youth group that stopped, then covered graffiti on an entire train while passengers remained on the wagon. However, Rich also increase the national attention when he jointed in a non-profit “Dunk the Junk” which program help children against obesity via hip-hop, street art, and basketball. I know that graffiti was vandalism but now I learned that today graffiti is considered art. I am happy when people use their talent to help other people. 

In conclusion, some people think graffiti is art, but this is not the truth and graffiti should be controlled because th it destroys other people’s property, it costs a lot of money for remove them, and it has a negative influence on children. It can be said, for graffiti, the line between art work and 'vandalism' is quite fragile. It is important that this line is heavily dependent on the artist.