Why Is Graffiti Illegal?

[Hungry Donner]

Unless you want the government to define art there is no way to legally differentiate between someone making an artistic statement and simple vandalism.

Personally I'd rather outlaw graffiti than allow it anywhere, or have the government attempt to define it. Some places do permit graffiti on their walls so as long as you have permission it's fine.

 

[UnmotivatedSlacker]

Well people tend to get annoyed if you paint their stuff without permission. If permission is given then whatever. Also welcome to the escapist.

 

[easternflame]

Because people paint where they shouldn't, that's it.

 

[subtlefuge]

There is a completely legal side of graffiti where people do commissions, rent canvas space, and so forth.

Most laws can be boiled down to:
1. Don't take stuff that isn't yours.
2. Don't put your stuff where it doesn't belong.

 

[Jodah]

Just because you think it looks good does not mean everyone does. If the owner of the property wants a blank wall why should he have to deal with random jerk XYZ painting on it, regardless of how good it is.

The same applies to public property. Just because you think its beautiful doesn't mean the next guy will. Then we run into the whole separation of church and state. If some Graffiti "artist" decides to paint a cross on the side of the Town Hall there can potentially be a lot of fallout.

 

[subtlefuge]

-snip-

I'm glad we live in a world where selective cleaning is not illegal.

 

[Aur0ra145]

Because you are defacing somebody elses property. How is this a difficult question to answer?

EDIT: I tried the REM sleeping diet. It fucking sucks to get started, but once started it isn't so bad.

 

[Baneat]

To prevent the infringement of the liberty of owning property, without it being trashed at someone else's discretion

I don't care if it's the most beautiful thing ever, no permission - illegal and wrong.

 

[CaptainKoala]

Because you're defacing stuff that doesn't belong to you.

 

[EboMan7x]

Well I live in New York, an place with an immense amount of artistic graffiti, and whether its actually illegal or not, nobody actually seems to care. They kinda like it.

 

[katsumoto03]

Gang-related graffiti is lame, but if it's actually art I'm fine with it.

Hell, if you just write your gang's name but make it look nice that's awesome with me. Personally, I don't care if it's illegal. At this point in time I don't do it, but I support the artists.

 

[Gudrests]

Simple answer its no. Artists get payed to do works of art in some places. Going up to someone's fence and tagging is against the law.

 

[TheTaco007]

I like my house the color it is right now....

However, I do think cities should seriously invest in multiple graffiti walls. It's a FANTASTIC idea.

 

[joshthor]

some places it is legal - for instance - slovenia. i went there last summer and there was graffiti everywhere. however. it was just... dumb. there were batmans everywhere. the only cool graffitti i saw was a chicken sandwhich (a baby chicken in between 2 buns)

 

[ace_of_something]

This isn't rocket science. You can't mess with someone else's property. If I found it aesthetically pleasing I would HIRE someone to put graffiti style art on my store.

That being said the funniest graffiti I ever saw was on a transformer it was like a roasted chicken... with a penis for a head that said 'Dicken' under it. Really immature but it was so odd I had to laugh, much to the chagrin of my humorless partner.

 

[Mr. Gency]

Not an image I want to see when procrastinating.