Most of you have seen graffiti at some point: on the side of buildings, on the side of a truck, near the train tracks, etc. It's usually a bunch of scrawling letters and symbols, not unlike the image at right. The act of creating graffiti on public property or on someone else's private property is illegal and is considered vandalism. Some people appreciate artistic elements of graffiti while others simply consider it unsightly vandalism.
There are many different types of graffiti, from simple words telling a message, to "tags" that are decorative signatures of the graffiti artist. However, on a recent visit to the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City, where Artsology was going to visit a number of art galleries, we found the graffiti in this art district to be of a much more sophisticated style, more elements of actual art. One might assume that the graffiti has been done here by artists who wish they could show their work inside of the galleries. Or perhaps they have placed their art here as graffiti because they know an art-appreciating audience is walking these streets every day. At any rate, Artsology photographed the various graffiti (or "street art") and is presenting a gallery of what we saw that day.
A gallery of street art and graffiti as found in New York City, December 2008
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An example of typical graffiti that one might find just about anywhere. |
