Blog Post #5 Graffiti

7:00 in the morning, trying to keep my heavy eyelids wide open trying to peek through the crowd, out the J Train window, attempting to catch a tiny brief glimpse of some of Brooklyn's famous graffiti art as the train zips along. Then I ponder. Is it really art?

Yes it indeed is. According to famous philosopher Clive Bell, what makes something art is the aesthetic emotion is sparks from within us. These pieces of graffiti art each have significant forms that do just that. Its purpose it to simply do something you like. Graffiti can have many purposes. Its purpose may serve to simply raise recognition of the artists' given name, or to just thrill the artist who is committing a crime. Graffiti can also be created to provide a place for human purpose, or to give solid form to feeling and ideas. For instance, many graffiti artists create memorials for lost loved ones. This graffiti memorial would serve as a physical memory of that beloved being. Fellow loved ones can gather around and remember their lost friend or family member.

John Cotton Dana in "The Gloom of the Museum" states that art collectors "collected so that they might possess, not that they might use, and not for the pleasure and advancement of the world at large". Dana explains that the collector who previously owned the artworks now displayed in the museums, collected art just to display their wealth. They didn't find pleasure or an emotional attachment in the art. As a result of this, I do not believe that graffiti art should be in museums. Graffiti is an art done for simple recognition and personal pleasure. When graffiti is made for financial benefits, it becomes a job and not a hobby or passion. I believe that what makes graffiti unique and mesmerizing is its canvas. It’s always fun to imagine how the artist got up there, whether the art is on a train, a billboard, or roof. Once graffiti is placed in a museum we lose the thing that makes graffiti art exquisite and unique.