Graffiti

I had a friend in middle school who loved graffiti, he believed graffiti was art and gave life to the city. Not everyone believes graffiti is art, business owners, police officers, and professional artists see it as vandalism because According to Noel Sanchez " The cost for cleanup of graffiti in the United States has not been documented definitively, but it is safe to assume that it is in the billions of dollars." My middle school friend drew all over his notebook, his arms, his clothes and everyone always wanted him in their group projects because he knew how to make things look artistic and interesting but he also did art outside of school and he would write his graffiti name outside, in the parks, on the buses, buildings, and cars. 

One day the security guards in my school started a search for the students who were tagging up the stair cases in my school, since there were no cameras in the staircases it was the best spot for students to draw all over the walls. One security guard came up to me and showed me a graffiti drawing with my friends graffiti name on it and asked me if i knew who this person was because he was vandalizing the school and other properties in the Bronx. I didn't want to lie but i had to protect my friend, i didn't want to have to be the one to snitch on him so i told the security guard i had no clue who he was. 

Obviously too many people already knew who he was, and he was known for his art so he ended up getting caught. He did not get in trouble with the law for it but he did get suspended from school and his parents were notified. His parents decided to take him away to California because they felt that moving to New York City was bad influence on him. A lot of vandalizing goes on in New York City, everywhere you go you see graffiti so I do believe graffiti is art but i just don't see why it has to be done on the streets or on other peoples private properties.

                                                             Works Cited

Sanchez, Noel. "Graffiti as Vandalism." Graffiti: Art Through Vandalism. n.d. Noel Sanchez. Web. 20 Feb., 2014