Graffiti as Art

The recent blockbuster exhibition, "Art in the Streets," at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, drew the highest attendance in the cultural institution's history, doubling its annual attendance.  The show focused on graffiti design and street art.  Garaffiti has been viewed by many as an urban vice, but many have also viewed it as a form of creative expression, often with social and political overtones. 

Vice or art?  It's both.  It cannot be denied that tagging someone else's property without their permission is a form of vandalism.  Everyone who spraypaints something on a public surface cannot be considered an artist.  Gangmembers usually have no artistic motivation beyond marking their turf when they scribble something on a building, bridge, or train platform.  Kids who deface a poster or a roadsign are often listening more to peer pressure than to a muse.  Yet, there is no denying the flipside of graffiti, the emotional murals and powerful beauty. 

It made me think of some of the graffiti works here in New York that have become almost as identifiable as some other NYC landmarks.  "Crack is Wack" by Keith Haring, viewable from the FDR Drive, never fails to grab my attention and remind me of the peak of the city's drug epidemic in the 1980s. 

It also made me recall the graffiti-covered Berlin Wall and its historic demolition.  Each bit of writing on that infamous divisive barrier had a story to tell.

MOCA's press release about the success of "Art in the Streets" stated: "One of the most popular features of the exhibition, and an unprecedented gesture by an artist, was Free Mondays, the first-ever museum sponsorship by British artist Banksy. The program, which provided free exhibition admission on Mondays, drew an average 4,083 visitors each Monday. On closing day, an all-time daily high of 8,424 visitors attended, with lines stretching from the entrance of The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA to Alameda Street in Little Tokyo."

Hopefully, the exhibition's success will encourage more people to look at graffiti in a new perspective.  I think people should consider commissioning street artists for public artworks, encouraging them to channel their talents and creativity through positive channels.