" These two types of graffiti are forms of art because they arrange colors and lines to form pictures and fancy designs, illustrating creativity. These two forms of graffiti are different from gang graffiti because they require a lot of hard work and time to create each 'piece' (Phillips) and not a few seconds of scribble like in gang graffiti. Graffiti is a form of art because it is also expressive by telling something about the community like the murals and art exhibitions of political graffiti. As written in That Tired Old Graffiti Advocate Strategy, "The majority of graffiti artists were young boys from the city looking for some way to express themselves, painting graffiti became an artistic form of rebellion." Graffiti is a form of expression just like art has been for centuries. Even though people may not like what it is expressing or how it appears, graffiti is an art form because it is creative and expressive like any other works of art in museums.
However, just because graffiti is a form of art, does not mean that graffiti is not vandalism. Graffiti is vandalism because it is ruining the property, public and private. It makes public property useless by covering up street signs, and ruining property with carvings. "These wild-boy tribes have decorated virtually everything along the route or bus bench, an on-ramp sign, billboards, murals, trees, utility boxes, mayoral candidates' signs, the vast concrete canvas of the Los Angeles River and the smallest curb" (Sipchen). With graffiti making things appear dirtier than it needs to be no one will use these materials like the bus benches or the sign covered by useless writing. Not only are graffiti artists or taggers destroying public property they are also destroying private property. Local businesses are constantly being written on without the consent of the property owner. The artwork may appear pleasing to the creator, but it is disturbing the original appearance of the establishment.