Graffiti: art or eyesore?
Graffiti, or street art, always creates a divide in opinions. While the word graffiti may spur ideas of criminal youths tagging their names on motorway overpasses, spray paint has now become a valid medium in the art world, with some establishments even commissioning graffiti artists to decorate the walls of their building.
If you take a look at some legitimate street art or, as aforementioned, commissioned graffiti, it is clear that this is not the work of thugs; these people really do have artistic talent. Who’s to say that less work goes into a piece done using a spray can, than into one done with a brush? Graffiti has quite evidently become a contemporary form of painting, with its urban twist keeping it bang up to date.
If you look in the right places around Salford and also Manchester, you can find some exquisite examples of graffiti, using beautiful colours and imagery – far removed from the scrawled name of a vandal! Some of these street artists are more comparable to the likes of L. S. Lowry or Banksy, in the way they use urban landscapes and people for inspiration, transforming the view of the city with paint.
Whether you see these spray paintings as works of art or eyesores, it is hard to deny that they certainly make the walls of the city come to life!
