Before discussing about the above issue, let's talk about how people define the term "graffitti" first.
Graffitti, according to wikipedia.com, is a art form created by scratching sharp objects or spraying paint into a surface.
Up to now, graffitti still be considerred as crime art because the graffittists make their works into public walls without permissions from authourities, or private walls without aggreements from the owners; then, letting to vandalism.
Moreover, it's quite hard for the graffittists to create their artworks legally due to some reasons:
- They need a large space to paint --> it's impossile for city's scenarios.
- They need to build thier own walls --> it costs lot of money.
- Most of graffittists are poor or unemployed or low-educated --> thier use of words is not properly.
So, it's time to go straight to the main issue here, Graffitti Art - Is It Art or Is It Design?
Well, for some reasons graffitti is art because:
- Not much people accept the viusal of graffitti.
- Mostly graffitti express the artist's personalization by drawing thier 'tag' (nickname) into the walls.
- Graffitti has a long-term development from the ancient Greek period till now.
However, graffitti is now becoming design because:
- The marketers use graffitti to approach the youth as a taget group.
- Graffitti is applied as a style to decoration, such as, fonts, notebook covers, wallpapers, etc.
- People use graffitti to communicate their concepts to audiences over advertising.
- Graffitti is not only on the walls, but also appear on a variety of media, like internet images, TV, printAds, etc.
To conclude, depending on which purpose of using graffitii, it could be art or design.
If a person makes a graffitti for his own personalities. That's art.
But if a person creates a graffitti to communicate an idea over many types of media. That's design.
So, what do you think?