Radio Australia Today Editorial

Graffitists get jail in the U.K. A good thing?

18 June 2009

Graffiti artists say they have been misunderstood. Just last month we had a group of graffiti guys in the studio telling us that what they were doing was pure art (and a difficult art considering that they paint using spray cans, not brushes), and pure self expression.

Then today came the news that a group of six Australian self-expressionists have been jailed in the U.K. for self-expressing all over walls and trains that didn’t belong to them, in a spree that would invariably be cleaned off using a lot of noxious and environmentally harmful liquids, and at a huge cost.

No-one should put a boundary on art. The Eiffel Tower is a work of art to many, but when it was raised, it was considered by some to be a disastrous massive blight on the genteel skyscape of Paris. The Guggenheim in Bilbao in Spain is to me a stunningly beautiful and creative building, but to others it was a bizarre piece of metal junk. Picasso was seen by critics as a person who knew so little about human anatomy that he painted eyes on the same side of the head.

In this city of Melbourne graffiti artists are hired to adorn the walls of cafes and hair salons. The artists work with the owners to produce something that explains the vibe of the business. But for every one of these collaborations, there are dozens of graffitists who just take their cans and spray what they want where they want, as if Mr Eiffel quietly planted his tower in Fred Frimp’s backyard one night and then ran away.

This graffiti gang was not just about artistic self-expression. They travelled the world spraying their message in Sydney, Japan, Spain, Italy and Germany. They weren’t just unlucky to get caught, they actually took video of each other doing it, posting the video for public view. There was certainly a sense of unreality about their actions, and perhaps a feeling of invulnerability.

Once a person goes to jail, when that person is lying on a bed in a cell, a person’s invulnerabilities tend to vanish.

I think a lot of graffiti is art. Tagging one’s name using a felt pen isn’t. Graffiti on a wall that doesn’t belong to you may still be art, but unwanted art is really just a pain in the butt.

– Phil