Written by Grade 11, Section 6
Editors: Edilson Gomes, Rosa Payano
1-According to the 1983 documentary film, Style Wars, directed by Tony Silver, graffiti originated in the subways of New York City. Style Wars shows the opinions of the public and authorities as to whether graffiti is art or vandalism: the government was against graffiti because of the cost of cleanup, however graffiti writers ignore this because they view graffiti as part of their lives. (Written by Section 6, edited by Edilson Gomes, Rosa Payano and Christopher Reynoso)
2-Graffiti in Arab countries is a significant problem because they are a very conservative people. According to Mohamed El Hebeishy, author of “Arab Graffiti: Vandalism or Art?” eL Seed, a calligraffiti artist, spray-painted a political message of free expression on the most important wall of Tunisia, the wall of the tallest minaret. It was also a religious message about intolerance, which he took from the Qur’an, the text that Muslims believe in, with the purpose of changing conservative’s perception of graffiti and tolerance. (Written by Section 6, edited by Edilson Gomes, Rosa Payano and Christopher Reynoso)
3-The article, “Charles Wesley Arrested: 71-years-old Graffiti Grandpa Identified As Florida Street Vandal” posted on Huffington Post’s website, informs how Wesley pointlessly painted his group name ”SLA,” on a utility post in Florida, thinking that Sane Liberation Army would take over the U.S economy once it collapses. The article demonstrates that even when some people turn old they don’t lose their childish acts, and Wesley is an excellent example of how you’re never too old to be young at heart. (Written by Section 6, edited by Edilson Gomes, Christopher Reynoso and Rosa Payano)
4-According to the article “He Came, He Spray-painted, He Got New Yorkers Talking” published by Associated Press, the author explains the controversy with the graffiti artist called Banksy from Britain, who went to New York to paint graffiti. Some people like it because it inspires them to share opinions and stories, but some people don’t because they see it as vandalism. (Ashly Torres)
5-The article “Graffiti on Stockholm Mosque,” published by the Boston Globe, informs that Nazis had painted their symbols on the walls of a Muslim mosque, where they pray. The police say that the graffiti is considered to be a hate crime and that the Nazis made the symbols on the mosque wall because they hate Muslims. (Elisa Depina)
6-According to the article “Graffiti: Is it Art or Vandalism?” by Larry Humber, graffiti is art and the Toronto’s graffiti alley demonstrates it. All of the colors and different, amazing graffiti paintings made graffiti alley an attraction for many tourists in Toronto. (Giselle Aristy)
7-According to the article “Banksy’ Ruining People’s Property” by Jon Swaine, “Banksy has been accused of defacing New York and ruining its residents’ property” says Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City. However, many people disagree with this. If you’re one of these people, how would you feel if someone vandalized your property? (Elian Ventura)
8-The article “Graffiti: Art through Vandalism” talk to us about how most of the people think of graffiti they imagine tags or gang names, but the most popular form are tags. (Bryan Rodriguez)
9-According to the article “Graffiti Back in Subways” by Thomas Lueck, transit officials in New York said that most subway windows pose an expensive problem because cleaning up graffiti cost up to $130 per windows. Due to this, now windows are protected with Mylar coating, a plastic that can be peeled off and replaced, so they won’t spend more money replacing the whole window. The plan is to extend it to all trains in New York City, so it can be easy to clean the trains’ windows. (Moises Teixeira)
10-The article, “He came, He Spray-painted, He Got New Yorkers Talking,” published by Associated Press, informs us about what the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, thinks about graffiti. He stated that he cleaned up all public places in the city because they were all contaminated with graffiti, and also that graffiti is a sign of a city without order and control. (Gleny Minino)
11-According to Ben Burrow’s article, “Roger Lloyd-Pack Graffiti Tribute on Passenger Train…” published on Mirror News Website, a graffiti memorial with the message “Rest In Peace” to the death of a famous British actor, Roger Lloyd, brings a smile to commuters. (Edilson Gomes)
12-According to the article “Artists Bid Sad Farewell To 5 Pointz, New York City’s Graffiti Mecca” published by the artist Mallika on Huffington Post, the author informs how Marie Cecile Flageul, a graffiti writer, has been petitioning the Federal Court for weeks to stop the landlord from knocking down the 5 Pointz building in New York. However the landlord, Jerry Wolkoff, knocked down the building, destroying all the artwork and any chances of the building becoming a landmark. (Kevin Teixeira)
13-You might be asking how graffiti artist get their materials to do what they call art? According to the article “Graffiti: Art Through Vandalism” written by Noel Sanchez, he informs that the U.S Department of Justice reported that street artists often shoplift the materials they need to create graffiti. (Vaenc Xheblati)
14-According to the article “Women Artists are Gaining Ground in the Graffiti and Street Art Scenes” written by Elizabeth Nolan Brown, graffiti tends to be a male-dominated field and this machismo causes females to take a man’s name as a pseudonym to gain respect. Even in an illegal field, this article demonstrates a huge competition for equality between women and men. (Rosa Payano)
15-Even famous people are getting involve in the graffiti field, according to the article “Bieber Got Clean-Up Request After He Painted A Hotel Wall in Australia” published in the New York Times, the author informs that Justin Bieber spray-painted graffiti all over a hotel wall in Gold Coast, Australia while he was on his Belieber tour. The event was posted on his Instagram which reached a huge number of likes. Bieber did not have permission to spray-painted and the mayor charged him to clean his mess. (Eliseu Depina)
16-Five alleys were created to allow street artists the practice of graffiti, according to the article published on November, 07, 2012, “Graffiti: Is It Art or Vandalism?” by Larry Humber. It seems that Toronto has begun to open its eyes to graffiti. (Angel Troncoso)
17-The article, “Can the Can,” reported in The Economist on November 20th, 2008, which is about a criminology study conducted by George Kelling, a former probation officer, concluded that places where walls are covered all over with graffiti or places where there is low maintenance causes a negative psychological effect in people. The study also concluded that people who see other people breaking the laws, are encourage themselves to conduct bad behavior. (Christopher Reynoso)
18-The article “Graffiti: Art or Vandalism? published in Los Angeles Times, on August 24, 1991, talks about how Orange County allowed aerosol painting in spite of laws that make graffiti illegal. Therefore, Orange County cleans up graffiti that symbolizes gangs. (Elianny Rodriguez)
BINcA Writes! 