Graffiti artists, taggers, painters, writers, etc., are they artists or a bunch of vandals? The dispute on the issue of graffiti goes on, an issue that is difficult to avoid because graffiti is almost everywhere: buses, walls, windows, stores, billboards, museums, etc. Some view it as being art, while others, who are forced to clean the mess, think it is vandalism. There are three types of graffiti - political graffiti, gang graffiti and graffiti art (Phillips). According to the American Heritage Dictionary (Second College Edition), gang graffiti is considered to be vandalism, "The willful or malicious destruction of public or private property," while political graffiti and graffiti art are a form of art, "The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty; specifically, the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium" (American Heritage Dictionary). Nevertheless, just because it is art does it make it legal and not vandalism? Despite the qualities that graffiti has favor being an art form, graffiti is vandalism because it damages the property and the community.
Graffiti is an art form because it has artistic characteristics. The two types of graffiti being referred to as having artistic qualities are political graffiti and graffiti art. These types of graffiti are colorful, picture-like and sometimes meaningful. Phillips writes, "An example of this cross-culturally prevalent genre of graffiti, political graffiti may combine with other artistic and expressive forms such as poster and comic book production, mural paintings, and newspaper and pamphlet productions, and political art exhibitions." And Phillips describes "graffiti art" as "work ranging from simple monochrome lags" (the artist's 'name tag' often represented in an exaggerated cursive style) to elaborate multicolored works called 'pieces' (derived from the word 'masterpiece) which are considered in some circles to be of museum quality.
