Graffiti is art or vandalism?

Painting and sculpture, striking installations, performances and shows of light and sound - all this today is perceived as an indisputable manifestation of art. The perception of such phenomena depends entirely on the viewer's consciousness, the degree of his awareness in matters of culture, the readiness to understand and understand something new. Someone bold steps towards the beautiful seem wild and useless, someone - inspirational and truly decisive, and someone refers to such manifestations of art absolutely indifferent.

In every city of the globe you can find walls, on which all kinds of inscriptions or drawings are adorned. This is the real art of the streets, perceived by some as vandalism.

From the depths of human history to today

One can hardly call a secret the fact that everything new is simply a well-forgotten old. By and large, the inscriptions on the surface of the walls - for mankind is by no means a know-how. Remember, for example, drawings of the Paleolithic era, which the representatives of the world archaeological community now and then find in various parts of the globe.

Of course, in this case it can be said that at that stage of development such manifestations of craving for beauty had a completely different meaning, but there is nowhere to go from the similarity with regard to physical manifestation. From this point of view, graffiti is just a small legacy of our great past.

Everything depends on the interpretation

Few people know, but in the archaeological and art criticism this term is used quite actively, although it has a slightly different meaning. In the consciousness of an ordinary layman, graffiti is any drawing or inscription located on a wall, a fence, and, by and large, on any horizontal or vertical surface (let's not forget about three-dimensional drawings on asphalt, which are gaining popularity all over the world).

In the historiographical view, the term has a slightly different, deeper and more concrete meaning. In the broadest sense, graffiti is any image or inscription applied to the surface with the help of paint or, for example, embossing, scratching. In a more narrow view of this type of archaeological finds are only scratched images and letters, which is explained by the etymological origin of the term. All the rest is called dipity.

A small historical reference

For those who believe that graffiti is only a manifestation of vandalism, it should be noted once again the fact of the antiquity of such a phenomenon on the path of world development.

Gradually, primitive pictograms were perfected, acquired a certain importance and were reflected in the era of Antiquity. The art of graffiti can be found in the Greek city of Ephesus, which is located in the territory of modern Turkey, and the ancient Romans and it was typical to decorate not only walls but also statues with inscriptions.

However strange it may sound, this way of fixing and transmitting information was quite ordinary for Ancient Rus. In Novgorod, Kiev and other cities hundreds of wall paintings and inscriptions have been preserved, which are now considered full-fledged historical monuments. By the way, such phenomena are telling a lot to the modern world about the process of writing development.

On the walls of the Egyptian pyramids, you can also find scratched names of French soldiers who were on this territory.

Present day

For the sake of justice, it should be noted that all the historical evidence listed above can be designated as "graffiti" in an exclusively culturological sense. All these inscriptions were scratched on the walls of temples, on statues and stones, while today such things are found only with the help of paint. Nowadays, graffiti is the art of the streets, it's the pictures painted on the walls, among which you can sometimes find really beautiful things: replicas of Dali's paintings or original works that are breathtaking.

The problem of the society itself

In that case, you will say, how do you get so many people who think such manipulations with paints are only vandalism and do not want to look at things a little differently?

This point of view is really quite common at the moment, and this can not be avoided. The thing is that the perception of beauty is, firstly, a purely individual thing, and secondly, requiring a thorough culturological preparation. In order to consider that graffiti is an art, it is necessary to have minimal ideas about aesthetics in general and its modern manifestation in particular. It concerns not only the looker, but also the drawing - drawing of the inscription for the sake of the inscription itself, of course, it is difficult to call a masterpiece. Especially if it is done carelessly and completely thoughtlessly.

The same inscription, however, with proper filing can only become an aesthetic object.

Banksy

That's who exactly showed the world the art of graffiti. Photos of this artist's works flew all over the Internet and became a real sensation in their time. In particular, this was reinforced by the insolence with which the problems of modern society were revealed in street pictures . Many of the artist's works were a real political satire. Others are just conceptual drawings that allow you to think.

Pictures continually appeared on the walls of different cities, the style became more and more recognizable, but the identity of the street artist could not be established. Moreover - this has not been possible to anyone to this day.

For Banksy and people like him, graffiti is something in between the way of self-expression and the tool for working with the mass consciousness, because there is not a single work that does not make you think, just not find it.

Politics and the origin of street art

Strangely enough, street paintings are so popular today due to the activities of American political activists, who tried to express their point of view by any available means.

From 1969 to 1974, graffiti actively developed, new styles appeared, ways of applying paint to the walls, while the popularity of this art did not reach a kind of apogee. From this time on, not only the streets and underground passages began to dazzle with "tags", but also the metro station.

Political slogans gradually began to be diluted in other words, beginning with citations of literary works, ending with abusive language. Perhaps, it was during this period that the question: graffiti - a kind of art or vandalism - was the most relevant.

The decline in popularity

It is only natural that such actions could not remain for a long time with impunity. Because of the flare-up "crack epidemic" and the growing number of obscene expressions on the city walls, the government had to take action, and gradually they became more and more determined.

This naturally led to a decrease in the popularity of this art form. For a long time it passed into a state of decline.

Commercialization and the return of popularity

Despite the fact that this art form has practically turned into graffiti on paper and has not found any reflection on the city walls, there have always been true admirers of such modern "rock inscriptions". In cities, every now and then there were new pictures, which sometimes even acquired the status of attractions.

Quite often, the walls of all kinds of shops and shopping centers became "victims" of graffiti. Enterprising owners, able to appreciate the benefits of such events, quickly took note of a similar method of attracting customer attention, and soon graffiti on paper turned into full-fledged paintings made to order. For many artists, it has become literally a way to earn money, and it is not surprising that this phenomenon is so well inscribed in the concept of pop art.

Modernity

To date, graffiti is primarily a non-commercialized phenomenon, but in virtually every city on the globe you can find a cafe or a bookshop, designed in this style.

Pictures placed on walls and fences, they acquire a greater aesthetics, then they are replaced by inscriptions having exclusively political context. This depends, first of all, on the situation in this or that country, the level of stability and well-being of the population.

Despite the fact that the very trend towards aestheticization is definitely taking place, in moments of popular upheaval, the original purpose of graffiti art is returning, and the period of flourishing of street art culture is followed by a forced decline.

How to treat such manifestations of art is a private matter for everyone. Someone prefers not to notice them at all, someone writes about them angry messages in personal blogs, and someone collects and enjoys the simple contemplation of freedom of expression.

Unsuccessfully written inscription can spoil sometimes even the largest building, considered one of the greatest architectural monuments, but sometimes only a few color strokes can turn into a real art object the most ordinary ruins ...