Graffiti: art or vandalism?

There was some controversy recently re the famous graffiti artist Banksy - the elusive artist was caught in the act by a passer-by using a mobile phone. I've long admired his work which covers many political issues (see some here as well as his website) as well as the photo reproduced here.

Photos: Banksy, then below vandalism (?) of Labour Party office and art behind Blockbusters in Stroud and bin in Stroud

So is it art or vandalism?

Many agree that the best policy is to remove graffiti immediately - but when does graffiti become art? Banksy is surely art? But to some it is also vandalism....to my mind ‘graffiti’ on pavements by traffic engineers - markings often left for months - often devalues the streetscape far more. If we are going to tackle graffiti then we must look broader...

Bus shelters decorated by school children can be a mess or wonderful - we have examples locally in Whiteshill - then there are the great other works - Stroud to my mind is particularly fortunate - see the walls down from Mother Nature and the roundabout opposite the station.

I also love some of the political graffiti like“Official Polling Station” printed on the rubbish bins - see photo below - but then some is perhaps more overtly vandalism like the painting of the Labour party's office in Stroud.

Stroud also have poems in many places - often beautifully printed. Love them!

Anyhow the news is that a Stroud grotspot - the pedestrian underpass at Wallbridge looks set to be improved - the town council will be commissioning an artist to paint a mural there - the hope being to discourage tagging - studies have shown that street art tends to be left alone by youngsters - Stroud District Council spends an average of £8,000 to £10,000 a year cleaning up graffiti.

Oliver Jelf, who runs the Illustration Gallery in Stroud, has been asked to oversee the project and he is looking for an artist to come up with a design. Oliver has worked with graffiti-style artists before and says there is a place for street art. He is quoted in The Citizen saying: "A lot of graffiti is about tagging and indiscriminate scribbling and what we want to do is bring forward a proper co-ordinated approach. We felt that we could enhance that location by having proper street art." Work will not begin until Spring next year at the earliest but I am sure it can only improve that walk way.