Understanding the Graffiti Past

What litters the alleyways? What covers the old abandoned buildings and subways? That’s easy, graffiti. Today we think of graffiti as a crime. But I think graffiti is an art that we should not consider a crime. People use this art form to make changes in the world and to create a new idea of art to people instead what what they see in museums. Look at this idea through my eyes. Graffiti is made by talented people who use vibrant colors and create masterpieces for the world to view. There was a time where people were excited to see this new form of art and people were always looking for new ideas to use graffiti. I don’t believe that graffiti is a crime it’s an amazing form of art. So now I introduce the art form of my opinion of graffiti.
I want to explain to you what graffiti is before I continue with my point. Graffiti started by tagging or painting in the subways. Tagging is the style where the painter uses a signature or logo that is unique to them. But the problem was the place to find a canvas. So people started to use the subway stations, subway cars, and on sides of buildings. Then in 1973 people started to do full on murals on whatever canvas they could find. But in the 1980’s, subway graffiti died and people were done seeing the ‘’vandalism’’ (Powers 140). But this is my opinion. I believe that graffiti should be a way to express a new art culture. Art can be represented by whatever art medium you want to use. An art medium is the tools that people use to draw, paint, or write with. For the graffiti artist’s it’s spray paint. Instead of using the typical painting or drawing utensils, they do something new and decided to show the world what they think and what they wanted to draw. They take their imagination or their ideas and put them to a canvas for the world to see and judge.  When the art business is depressed, people look for a new idea and graffiti offers that to the world (Powers 140). Art means a lot to me and graffiti is just a way to show someone's personality. For me I draw anime to express me but I do draw a lot of graffiti ideas. Personally, the definition of graffiti is bright colors, crazy designs, and fun patterns. Actually, now that I think about it, people are using some form of graffiti art everyday. We’ve managed to incorporate it into our art. Think about it, art is what we make it yet we have some requirements, and we have bright colors or crazy designs, incorporated into our art. Graffiti runs in out blood.
In Mexico, people use graffiti as a protest against government and to represent the ones they lost. They use graffiti as their voice because they don’t have a voice or representation in the government. People started to protest and the covered the walls or anything in their voice. Leah Farmer and Rachel Milos wrote ‘’The art, the stencil art graffiti and the messages ring loudly with a message that is global.’’ (Farmer & Milos 410). But these people also have a different reason to use graffiti. Groups of artists formed together to created a group called Grupo SUMA after the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre. This massacre killed 300 students and that’s when Grupo SUMA was created to create art to use graffiti art to make a change. These people believed that the government did a poor job of using the covering up the massacre so they used graffiti to make a statement. This made sure people remembered the lives that were lost instead of being forgotten.  Instead of drawing the picture, they use words and ideas to express a point. In their own way, they are creating art. The memory of the dead or the protest against government, these people often draw two famous people who stood up for them. These people were Emiliano Zapata and Subcomandante Marcos (Farmer & Milos). In Mexico people are creating ideas for people to agree and disagree with and them and the artists didn’t care. The artists are trying to express a point.I don’t care what people think of my art so why do people care about graffiti. I agree with the artist's ideas and motives. I want to see where the protest art is because it’s so inspiring to understand. They used graffiti to make a protest and show the world what was happening. People might not agree with this art, but it is art. No matter how you look at it.
It doesn’t matter what your motive is or if it’s just for fun it’s a creative way to express yourself, I believe that there should be a few places around the city or town that should be for graffiti artists to do their art. Graffiti shouldn’t be a crime, unless it offensive or it’s on a establishment like a restaurant or a company building. More people are getting charged of vandalism crime and it’s not fair. Graffiti is an art that needs to be shared with the world. People used to love seeing graffiti and loved to watch the artists work. I want to see more graffiti art and more creative expression. We are always seeing the same types of art everywhere we go. We try to use different backgrounds or different people to draw but it’s always the same. We need to be different from everyone else. Show what we can bring or how we can try and change the world. I want to understand different ideas of art and this is one of them. Graffiti is the art we never got to appreciate. So let’s appreciate the art now.