A cultural phenomenon, a worldwide art movement, a work of urban genius; what do all of these things describe? Street art, Those lovely paintings you see in the most bizarre places around the city. The ones you look at and are in awe with.
Some write, some photograph, some sing, Others paint the town. They feed off of anything and everything, they find inspiration in every corner. Street artists think outside the already formed box. They inspire young artists to chase their dreams, no matter how crazy. Although in recent years, as more and more street artists surface, a bad name has been placed upon them. They are viewed for their "vandalism." In reality is it really vandalism or is it art?
Graffiti goes back in time hundreds of years, but in recent time it has formed into a worldwide phenomenon. People all over the world see these beautiful pieces of art work and don't think another thing about it. The government and law enforcement agencies believe street art is vandalism and should be terminated. In some cases kids with spray paint can paint provocative or vulgar words, which should be classified as vandalism. The main difference between vandalism and street art is the creativity. Someone who puts all their heart and soul into one painting that may or may not be there in a couple weeks is someone with a huge amount of passion for what they are doing. On the other hand defacing public places with nasty slurs is not art, it's shameful; also places a terrible name on those who tend to do good.
How do you preserve such great and magnificent artwork? There is no way of preserving street art. You can photograph it, document it but it will not be the same. If people wanted to preserve the art they would have to break the whole wall down and place it in a museum. Do street artist really care though? They usually just embark on risky journeys to show the world their creative personas, So the answer would be no, they do not care about preserving their art. They want to influence others to chase and show off their gift for creativity.
Street artists are in every city in every place. They want to show the world how to color outside the lines, how to send a message, how to shout their opinions with only one painting; a picture is worth a thousand words right? These brave people bring creativity to the world, they make people stare and photograph and talk about their work. People look and are in pure wonder about how someone even goes about doing such a thing.
The question is do you believe street artists should be able to continue making these beautiful works of art or should they be stopped? I do believe that people need to realize that this is a good thing. Yes the actual vandals need to be stopped, but these are the ones that deface property. The street artists put it in places where it can be seen but does not hurt the look of the place. It brings a cultural difference, it shines a light on the city. Make the decision for yourself about whether street artists are the criminals or the legends.
