Just to add to our discussion on art vs. vandalism, here’s how one graffiti writer put it when asked by Halsey and Young in their 2006 article Our desires are ungovernable: Writing graffiti in urban space…

“Researcher: Do you think graffiti is art or vandalism?

Interviewee: Oh, yeah, it’s obviously both isn’t it? In some forms it’s vandalism. Some guys probably don’t even differentiate between the two . . . They do graffiti, [they g]o bombing or
trashing or whatever, [and] they want to label it as [art]. Obviously murals are seen as art. [But] if I don’t like it I might just think it’s rubbish—then that wouldn’t be art to me. If you can appreciate it, then I think . . . it is art. Probably within the right confines it always is art.” (Halsey and Young 2006:284-285)

Sj