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Art vs Crime
A key debate in the art world is whether graffiti can be acknowledged as
an art form or whether it will always be deemed to be vandalism.
Graffiti can be dated back to Ancient Greece and it has always been
misunderstood. Some people argue that graffiti is an art form in which a
person expresses themselves with creative flair.
A great example of this is the graffiti artist Banksy. He has captured the
attention of the world and rightly been acknowledged to be a fine artist.
In recent years the fashion business has also capitalised on graffiti
culture, selling unique products ranging from shoes to tops, with graffiti
style images.
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Despite this, most people still see graffiti as a bad thing. In the UK it
costs the tax payer millions of pounds to keep graffiti vandals in prision
and clean up the graffiti left behind. Sure enough damaging someone’s
property, with graffiti (even if deemed to be art), will always be seen as a
crime, but I can think of many more serious crimes, murder, for instance.
If graffiti artists are to be prosecuted then they should be given less hefty
penalties and prosecutions to suit the crime. Graffitti is modern art not
vandalism.
XD
What do you think?
Email your vote for
‘Art’ or ‘Crime’ to
xd@wlc.ac.uk
WRITTEN, DESIGNED AND
PHOTOGRAPHED BY
HUMPHREY CRUZ
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