The public has had a love/hate relationship with graffiti. On the plus side, gifted graffiti artists such as Banksy have made walls a place to put a political point across, employing stencils to create difficult graphics with a nuanced political point. This type of graffiti was likely to grow popular with both the public and the likes of The Guardian pressroom : visually pleasing and intellectually satisfying. This type of graffiti is now even acquired as graffiti prints, and hung on the walls of middle class homes and office reception areas.
Nonetheless, when it comes to your down and dirty graffiti - the tagger, the gangbanger variety - this kind of graffiti is often seen as vandalism, an offence committed by the untalented. But is graffiti simply an artform? To many people, it’s not only an artform, but a way to put your stamp on a district, or even a two finger salute : anti-art, anti-social, anti-establishment.
Graffiti has invariably been a secret pursuit, even though the effects are very much public facing. The targeted audience is often unknown. Is it for a rival gang? A communication to an individual? To the public? Perhaps it’s just gratuitous and out of nothing to do.
Whatever the causes, there appears to be some kind of ceaseless demand to spray graffiti on walls. Some towns have conceded that graffiti isn’t a short-term craze, so they’ve designated zones where graffiti is permitted - usually derelict areas, but occasionally more civic areas like temporary boarding that surrounds inner city buildings under construction.
