Is Graffiti Wrong? | Synthetic Opinion

Is graffiti wrong? Short answer, yes. But before you start to freak out and shouting that it is a great form of art just stop and listen.

Lets analyse what graffiti is, according to the Oxford dictionary of English it’s “Writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place”, there are some key words in there that I want to emphasize, illicitly on a wall, in short it’s an uninvited person writing on a random wall, now please imagine your lovely house completely filled of ugly, unintelligible scribbles, because that is the only graffiti that I see on a daily basis! Not beautiful works of art (those normally are paid by city officials making them not graffiti’s, more on this topic bellow) but ugly, malformed and hideous blobs of paint with insipid messages or names of a little gang or sometimes even worse, messages to someone specific, because in this day and age letters, e-mails and phones are something nonexistent or at the very least so unknown to the major public that it requires a regression to that old technology know as cave painting...

Now, many will say “but there are some graffiti’s that are beautiful and really well made” and that is true, however just because it’s pleasing to the eyes doesn’t justify its existence, because in the end of the day the fact is that it is illegal. It is illegal because the person that does it, doesn’t own the wall. It is like painting some random car on the street, if someone painted your car without permission I guarantee that you would not like it one bit. The same goes with all the walls, some like graffiti some don’t if it’s not your wall, leave it alone. Furthermore, if you have the talent to make beautiful artwork, sell your skill, try to make a living out of it, and don’t misuse your time on a stupid little gang wasting your art talents.

 If you do it at your home or are asked by someone to do it or even if you get paid to paint a wall then do it to your heart’s content but remember, that is not graffiti it may be better qualified as urban art, to be a graffiti it has to be an illegal act and if you are asked or paid to do it, well it’s not a graffiti.

Concerning the legality of the graffiti, the car is a god example, nonetheless people tend to make the next claim “oh, but there are so many things that are worse than graffiti that are legal”. Ugh... This, this really destroys my inner core of logic. Bear in mind that the law exist in order to make the majority of people happy, smoking is legal and is a health hazard but you only smoke if you want, that is why it’s legal also is not a drug as damaging or as addictive as heavier ones that is why it’s legal (more on drugs another time)... If you draw an amazing gorilla on my wall and it just happens that I hate gorillas, I want it cleaned, that is why it is illegal. If the “artist” needs to draw on walls to express his message than the next person that in order to express his message takes a dump on the street is no better nor worse than the artist in question.

To conclude, if you enjoy paintings so much go to a museum and see art, if the kind of art you enjoy is not on museums the internet is great place to see wonderful images however if you defend graffiti just because it’s illegal or because normally they have an edgy subject, clearly you defend it because you haven’t think about it or because people haven´t painted your wall without permission.