sort of humble summary
How do you feel about graffiti in public places ?
quotes:
Vandalism is a crime-Personally I can't stand graffiti-I don't like graffiti either. They make things look crappy-some of the most beautiful buildings and art are decorated with this "outlaw art", it's really bad-Vandalism is always crap-Intentionally destroying public property is definitely not acceptable-shit works?-are fascist culture-Graffiti is shit-It isn't art-It's filth-Those clowns don't have talent-work of idiots behaving like dogs that piss on every corner to flag their territory-Disgusting!-places were one needs to "prescribe" graffiti to make it look nicer-We have a serious problem with graffiti in the UK, and the most infamous culprit/vandal is the individual known as 'Banksy'. He apparently sees himself as an inspired 'artist'. Speaking personally, his 'work' does not provide me with a glimpse of eternity. I would like to see him captured and tarred and feathered in public. -I hate graffiti. It's one of those situations that I would like to shoot the perpetrator- one of the few things that would justify giving the police a "shoot to kill" order-hate graffiti-I don't like it at all
Graffiti is truly art, the art of self-expression, the art of painting your own self.
-> BINGO!
just adding that this is (exponentially) valid for all the (above and related) comments as well, all oppinions and judgements regarding the phenomena: The evaluation we make characterizes ourselves most procisely for it describes in detail our true nature: what irritates us shows our dark side.
Btw: what tells the graffiti in general about our society and civilisation? Isn't it a sad story about things we do not want to see and know? Does it not uncover there's something deeply wrong about us, about our living space and the environment in general, that is not even allowed to be effectively communicated? Is it not a message about our (collective) SOUL - a message of an infinite psychological and diagnostic value?
And yes: you are (all) correct: this "message" is not nice and there is a deep trouble felt in most graffiti (although I'd love to attach here picture of one really beautiful performance of this sort taken recently in my neighbourhood).
Thus why not start taking care of the rootcause instead of pumping up our hattred sometimes up to a killing instinct projeted to police, etc.
Shouldn't we instead beginn by healing our own psyche prior to give an advice how to treat authors of these souls' most important messages? Yes, the art might reflect our unconscious in much more pleasant way but does it make us think the coorect way? Imho there would be no graffiti unless we needed its high priority message.