Should graffiti be considered art?

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Should Graffiti be Considered Art?
For many years, there has been a spirited debate on whether graffiti is art or vandalism. Regardless of this ongoing debate, graffiti has continued to spread more and more. This street art covers subways, bridges, buildings, and the walls of freeways exposing the fantastic talents of those who make the attractive images. Such arts make the cities look beautiful by giving them character and unique appearances (Evans).  Now, this makes me ask myself, what do people consider as art while canceling graffiti? Graffiti should be a synonym for art; the only thing that differentiates the two is that graffiti artists do not have a painting brush and a canvas in front of them while painting whatever they imagine. For graffiti, the streets are their canvas, and the cans of spray are their brushes, and thus both are similar. Like regular artists, graffiti artists take their time and efforts to put up their work, which is at the exposure of everyone for free. Graffiti arts could also be taken to museums and be priced as highly, only that such arts are modern and keeping up with the current generation. Graffiti is art, the essay will expound on the point that art should be defined as a way through which people express their creative talents and opinions, and should not be illegal should be legalized.
First, graffiti contributes to the beauty of our environment. Walls colored with different colors with no specific pattern attractive to the eyes and more beautiful than ordinary walls. It feels lively to walk down a street with walls bearing graffiti, either in form or drawings or witty writings (Halsey & Young). Some graphics have direct meanings and one can interpret their meaning at a glance. However, some graphics are mysterious and are made for people to draw different meanings, depending on how they perceive them. In the end, people are left with questions such as, "What could this work mean? Who put it up here? What does it mean? Now that graffiti is illegal, did they do it at midnight?" As these questions ring in their mind, people become more attracted, and they cannot keep their eyes off the art (Hughes).  On the other side, it would feel boring if the same walls are plainly colored, and maybe the color has faded down the years. It is now high time that those in the position of legal authority should consider graffiti as art and legalize it, just like other forms of art.
Moreover, graffiti is used as a form of expression. Artists express their political, economic, and social thoughts and views through graffiti. When those in power intend to pass or pass laws that do not suit ordinary people's needs and the needs of the minority in society, artists express their anger through graffiti, and therefore they act as a voice for the voiceless. When the economic conditions become too harsh for the low and middle-class citizens, maybe due to loss of jobs and increase in prices of goods, artists air these concerns to the government through graffiti therefore acting as agents of activism (Evans). Artists take the responsibility to raise a concern about vices in society, for example, corruption and abuse of power and hence they carry the burden of keeping society aligned with morals. When street art is illegalized, artists' ability to come up with such influential masterpieces gets limited. Street art also highlights people's struggles, achievements and milestones made by society and can be used to drive positive courses. For instance, Bansky, a prominent graffiti artist from London, has become famous worldwide due to his satirical graffiti, which expresses his political views. His work is so influential to the point of inspiring Obey Propaganda, a leading clothing brand. Graffiti is gaining ground and popularity throughout the world, and it is deemed to flourish. It is now time that it was considered as art and made legal.
Like any other art form, graffiti takes practice, creativity, patience, and determination for artists to perfect their craft. It is no doubt that some graffiti artists have reached levels of genius. Many people overlook the fact that they have invested a lot of resources to reach that level. Resources could be in the form of time, money, materials, and energy, which they could have equally used to invest in other fields (Hughes).  Although any other person can use spray paint to make a simple drawing, it would take a talented and creative artist to transform such simple art into a fantastic piece that every person can admire and learn a lesson. Some people view graffiti as a piece of mere paintings on walls, but those who appreciate graffiti know that it is a skill that has transformed the way we view spray paint. Artists get rewarded for their effort when people find it difficult to let their eyes off their graffiti and get a different message from their pieces, according to how they understand it.
Graffiti acts as a f...