Najera Perez 1

Diana Najera Perez

Dr. Colombo

UWRT 1104

14 February 2017

Can Graffiti ever be Considered Art?

Research Journal Entry 1

Citation

Eickmier, Greg. Graffiti: Art or Vandalism? Museum of the City, International Council

of Museums Committee for the Collections and Activities of Museums of Cities, 2016,

www.museumofthecity.org/project/graffiti-art-or-vandalism/.

Main Claim

1. But for all intents and purposes graffiti has existed since prehistoric times and has also

given us great insight into more recent cultures and civilizations as well. (3)
2. Graffiti has been intercept wrongfully without acknowledging how it has modernize

society and its values.

Summary of Source

In this article, the author explains how graffiti started from the earliest Paleolithic cave

paintings (Eickmier, 4) and started to spread across the world. Graffiti is titled as Street Art

because it has constantly been presented in different cities and taken in differently. Seven

sections are being used in this article to explain how graffiti can be seen as art and as vandalism.

The culture of graffiti is being viewed as the writing or spray painting of words and letterforms

whether legally or illegally (27) to illustrate the beliefs of the artists. Graffiti is also interpreting

the fine art of vandalism (34) because it is using private properties as canvases to create fine

art. Vandalism involves of deliberating created destruction of or damaging a public or private

 Najera Perez 2

property. The closing of the article explains how graffiti is debated whether it is art and how

graffiti is a present issue that would not go away anytime soon.

Evaluation of the Source

This article was published in 2016 which makes this sources more recent and more

creditable because it had partnership with the International Council of Museum Committee. The

URL also reveals that the articles comes from an organization that generally considered to be

reliable. The overall purpose of the article is establishing the differences between what is

considered art and what is a sign of vandalism. The author argued that even if this whole topic

was to be created as a debate, it would not go away since it is a cultural norm.

Important Quotations

A second reason is that this abstraction of letterforms is a relatively new style of art and

it began as a genre all its own. Just as Graffiti was becoming a time-intensive craft with new

techniques and styles being explored by highly skilled artists, Modernism gave way to Post-

Modernism. (28-29)

Usually the defining factor on whether or not Graffiti art is considered legal

is based on permission (45)

There are many other types of art that could be considered Graffiti that I

have purposely avoided in this discussion: Public works such as murals, sculptures,

statues, political stencils, religious iconography, advertisements and a multitude of

other visual entities could all be subject to discussion. (68)