So I'm not trying to start shit... no, wait, I totally am :-)
Is graffiti deserving of the popular term "Street Art"?
For me, this begs a couple of questions, and isn't so black and white as most middle aged, right-thinking suburbanites would have us believe.
- What part of graffiti should be considered art - tagging, throw ups, pieces, paste ups, stencil art?
- Should tagging - the often ugly and most hated form of graffiti - be so hated? (it is still a form of expression after all)
"(Why'd i) tag this wall? Just kinda putting my stamp on it, you know? Fucking let people know i was here" -- Luke Shapiro, The Wackness
I don't particularly like seeing tags around the place - they're mostly shit from my p.o.v., but i do enjoy some of the more elaborate ones, obviously those of "Street Artists" with talent. Of course, this makes me a hypocrite, as I'm a tagger, but I'm in school, and everyone writes on the tables, walls and floors, so a tag is not so bad. I don't consider my tags art of any kind, but my stencilling and stickering I do, as these mediums allow more creativity and more complex ideas to flow onto the wall - comments on society or simple outbursts of my inner... i don't know, inner moose?