THE ART OF GRAFFITI

Growing up in Brooklyn in the 60s, 70s and 80s, I was surrounded by graffiti. Some of it great, so of it terrible, some of it gang related and some was just words scribbled on a wall. Then of course, there were murals that went beyond typical graffiti.



The best of it was in a train tunnel going out to Coney Island. There were separations in a wall that the graffiti artist used this his or her advantage. The breaks in the wall made it seem like the image was moving.

I believe it was Mayor Ed Koch who really started an all out war on graffiti; Eventually you saw the decline of graffiti in the subway system. And, although the amount of graffiti outside the subway system also declined, it was still visible. Many of the walls that were splattered with it in my old neighborhood (Greenpoint) still bore those markings when I was back there last.


Looking back, even though much of this graffiti was very beautiful, I never thought that it would rise to an acceptable form of art. But, then again, I never thought rap would rise to such an acceptable level either.

If you want to see some of the graffiti that is being considered art, Yahoo is giving you an opportunity. Check out this photo gallery. It provides some great examples of why graffiti has risen to its current level of acceptability.