Unit 5, Lesson 3, Ex.3a

A. Four years ago I knew two things about graffiti: that it was all criminal and that it was ugly. I was right it was ugly but I was wrong about it being all criminal. Most of it is done by kids of every race and social group from big cities to small towns. Today I’m a member of Together Against Graffiti (TAG) group aimed at bringing people together to fight against this kind of so called street-art.

B. In the past ten years graffiti seems to have become more about leaving your mark, and less about art or political statement. Most of it is unreadable anyway. I say make it illegal if it’s not saying anything of interest!

C. Graffiti as a public service! Oh please - the majority of graffiti you see is not art, but tags scribbled on someone else's property - trains, walls, tubes or buildings. 6 weeks service cleaning trains or public toilets should do the trick.

D. I am a mural artist and have also been involved with graffiti art. Most of my graffiti-style work has been done on large canvases in my town centre. Spray paint is the most fun to use because it is fast, rustic, colourful and loud. I would like to suggest the following: a) fight vandalism (especially taggers); b) provide gallery space and public places for graffiti artists and encourage trouble-makers to participate by providing materials and guidance.

E. There has been a council sponsored graffiti wall in Walton-on-Thames for many years. This looked fantastic, until the local kids started to "tag" it. Now the original, and quite frankly brilliant, art is covered in nasty, pointless little scribbles. I would love to see graffiti walls where the best artists can be free, but whilst these taggers continue then this will not work.

F. There are two different types of graffiti artists, with two very different aims. One is the ‘bombers’, who just tag everything to get their name up. Then there’s the real artists who spend more time doing pieces that have artistic merit and are pleasing to the eye. The authorities, however, call both types of graffiti vandalism. But the latter is not vandalism, but art with the street as a canvas. There are, of course, legal parks where pieces can be put up, but the point of graffiti is taking over spaces that have been closed off. So having little corners or large walls for creation is against the whole philosophy.

G. I used to live in London where the graffiti simply made the already grubby city look worse. Mural walls for graffiti artists may help but I doubt it will stop the general rot. I now live in Valencia, Spain and here too there is graffiti. However, it is far less of a problem because the authorities are very quick to clean it up.

H. If walls were set up throughout Britain, and everyone was encouraged to use them (all ages, classes, etc) then graffiti could become a democratic form of cultural expression that need not trouble anyone. It would be cheap public art.

I. Graffiti should be banned. The creation of graffiti is dangerous. Graffiti artists climb to high places to draw on highway signs or billboards. To get to these high places, the graffiti artist has either got to climb to the high place or in some cases, hang down from high places to draw their picture or make their inscription. This is taking an unnecessary risk. The artist may believe that their life is not in any danger, but if there is one wrong move, the artist can lose his life.

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