Drive through any city in America, or any other country for that matter, and I almost guarantee that you will see graffiti somewhere along the way. “That’s definitely art,” some people say, while others consider it vandalism. Most of the time I just wonder how someone got that high on a bridge while carrying that many colors of spray paint, but if I had to think about it, I would say that graffiti is art.

First of all, the definition of art is a major deciding factor. Coming straight from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, art is “something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings.” The people that create graffiti most likely wouldn’t risk getting over $10,000 in fines and up to three years in prison if they didn’t wish to convey beauty or express some sort of strong feeling. Also, there is almost always some kind of imagination or talent behind the spray painting on the side of buildings and train cars.

Next, we have to look at artists. When you think of graffiti, your mind automatically jumps to teenagers and gangsters that want to draw and write inappropriate pictures and words illegally on the side of buildings, bridges, and train cars. Meanwhile, there are many people that create graffiti for a living, also called ‘graffiti artists’ or ‘street artists.’ There are even companies that hire graffiti artists and pay them to make this unique art. From this evidence, we can see that graffiti should be considered art.

Finally, there are places all over the world that are set aside for this type of art. Places in the United States such as Art Alley in Rapid City and The Wall of Fame in New York City are all set aside for graffiti artists to work their magic. Also, graffiti is legal in cities such as Warsaw, Poland, and Paris, France. This means that several groups of people, and even some governments, have recognized the astounding artistic abilities of so many.

While not all graffiti is legal, all of it is art. We can see this by looking at the definition of art which considers graffiti art, artists that create graffiti for a living, and places that dedicated the sides of their buildings to this wonderful way of expressing emotions. With all this evidence, it is obvious that graffiti is art.