Richard J. wrote:
Admittedly, some of it - such as the stupid tags (think: TOX) are
utterly a waste of time and yes, certainly vandalism. But I don't
think we should tar all grafitti artists with the same brush here.

I'm not tarring any artists, quite the reverse. I'm objecting to the
word "artist" being used to describe someone who illegally defaces other
people's property.


So if the Mona Lisa had been painted on a stolen canvas, it wouldn't be
an artwork and Leonardo wouldn't be an artist?

Under any sensible definition, that BNP ballerina is still an artist.
Even Hitler was an artist, although not a very good one. Similarly,
graffiti-ers who go beyond scrawled tags are artists.

They are also vandals, but an immoral life - or even a crime being
committed in the course of making the artwork - does not stop it from
being art.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org