Graffiti. Is it art or vandalism? The difference of opinion can be as close as two coats of paint, literally.
Traditionally, marking public or private property is considered vandalism, but as the Generation Y-ers grow restless and stigmas are replaced, a new phase of acceptance may have evolved.
Yet some still wonder whether this highly contested pop culture existence will have to be hidden from the general public. Artists hope graffiti and tagging, the name for images or lettering painted or sprayed into public buildings, will be considered a higher expression of art, a post-graffiti stage of street art?
An Outlet for Expression
Jon Hain, owner of Mother Fool's Coffeehouse on Wily Street, believes that it can. Mother Fool's Coffeehouse was granted permission by the city of Madison in 2001 to have a rotating wall with temporary graffiti art on the eastern side of their building. This piece is always temporary, as it is painted over monthly in the winter and weekly during the summer.
""Ever since I was young I've been intrigued by the aesthetic of graffiti art, but at the same time I'm annoyed by tagging and vandalism, so I thought that if we provide a place for graffiti then it would allow people to express themselves without vandalizing public or private property,"" Hain said.
""The dominant culture really tries to suppress graffiti, it's illegal and you get fined,"" Hain said. ""We wanted to provide a place for people to express themselves.""
The wall at Mother Fool's does not come without restrictions, though. Before the city approved the project, Hain, Don Wettach, a local artist, and the neighborhood alderperson, Judy Olson, worked out a criterion for the artists using the wall. It included no violent imagery, no profanity, no commercial messages and no sexist or racist imagery.
Since the wall's inception, there have been many artists who have contributed to the mural.
""The interesting thing to me is that we don't usually know the artists,"" Hain said. ""They borrow our ladder and a trash bag and they just paint. They're outside and we're inside so we never really see them.""
Graffiti artist, Billy McCoi, has been contributing to the graffiti wall for about six years now, usually painting 10-20 murals a year.
""For doing your piece, [the wall] is great, because you don't have to be looking over your shoulder for cops or for somebody who's going to chase you down the train tracks,"" McCoi said.
This artistic freedom, however, has been subject to negative criticism.
""People make the argument that [graffiti art murals] become a training ground for people to do graffiti,"" George Hank said, Director of Building Inspection and Code Enforcement for the city of Madison.
In fact, Mother Fool's graffiti mural has even been graffitied. Hain said there have been times when local graffiti artists have tagged the mural, but added that it's usually a result of a misunderstanding, where the person didn't realize that there is a sign up process. ""It hasn't turned into a real problem,"" said Hain.
""I don't think graffiti will ever be legalized and I think the graffiti artists are going to be responsible for that,"" McCoi said. ""We don't want it to be legal – that's part of the thrill."" McCoi said graffiti is vandalism, but also a form of art.
""It's just free. It's a way to escape, you know."" McCoi said. ""Throwing a cigarette butt on private property can be considered vandalism. The stuff we're doing is vandalism, too, and graffiti gets a bad rap, but it's art.""
Criminalizing Graffiti
According to Mike Verveer, who serves on the City of Madison Common Council, ""Graffiti can be considered artistic by some, but if you are engaging in graffiti on a property that's not your own, it's considered vandalism in my opinion."" He added, ""With the expense there is to remove it, it certainly is not a victimless crime.""
Graffiti and tagging is considered a misdemeanor under both city and state law, and if property damage is over $1000, the offense rises to a felony.
Like other business owners in the city, Hain explained, ""When somebody tags our building, we get a ticket from the city for $100.""
The city of Madison operates under the Copayment Removal Program, which offers private business owners the option of either paying $100 to the city for removal or removing the graffiti themselves within a designated time period. Removing graffiti costs the city around $170 to $190 every time a contractor is sent to a building with reported graffiti.
""It puts us in a somewhat uncomfortable position when directing business owners to remove the graffiti,"" Hank said, ""because we have it in the back of our mind that the owner is the victim.""
But, Graffiti can be expensive for both parties involved. Painting just one mural at Mother Fool's costs on average $80, according to McCoi. Besides material costs, he also noted that the time put into each mural is extensive.
""People don't realize how long it takes and how much work goes into it,"" McCoi said.
Hank explained tagging, a sub-genre of graffiti street art that some describe as just someone's initials or nickname, makes up the majority of graffiti problems in the Madison area.
""That's not art... that's just somebody putting his or her moniker on a wall,"" he said.
But McCoi said that's the whole point of this type of artistic expression. ""Graffiti is all about fame – how many times you can put your name up on a wall.""
Hank has noticed this trend as well. He said the areas most tagged included high traffic areas, such as Wily Street, Washington Avenue and Johnson Street. ""The people who are doing it are putting it in places where the most people will see it,"" he said.
However, since Mother Fool's Coffeehouse began the graffiti mural project, it has been tagged far less frequently. Before the establishment of the mural Hain recalled being tagged at least monthly.
McCoi also understood how tagging on small businesses, churches, schools, and government buildings can be bothersome. However, he added, ""Stuff that belongs to the city, like electrical boxes, street lights, and bus stops – that's fair game. I can paint on that, I pay my taxes.""
""Our goal since we started was that other business owners would step up and make one of their walls a graffiti mural,"" Hain said. ""Everyone agrees that this process helps to cut down on tagging.""
What's Acceptable?
Graffiti has taken several forms, used different mediums and portrayed conflicting messages throughout its history.
""I do like train graffiti because I think it's a neat way of expression as there is so much travel involved,"" Hain said.
The folklore of locomotive graffiti dates back to the early 1920s, when tagging boxcars became a way for graffiti artists to track and date their moniker every time they encountered it. The continuity of particular tags and the tradition that follows gives graffiti artists a sense of community.
The city does not enforce graffiti restrictions on trains, as trains are considered federal property, rather than state or city property.
Hank said even chalking, a temporary type of graffiti art that uses chalk instead of spray paint can be considered illegal if it contains a commercial message.
Verveer said there has been progress for making chalking more acceptable. He remembered in the 1990s when all chalking was illegal.
""I thought it was absurd that kids couldn't chalk hopscotch squares and play hopscotch on the sidewalk, so I changed the law and made it legal with city ordinances,"" Verveer said.
Most graffiti art, however, is not washable, which makes it so controversial.
However, Hain mentioned a new type of street art called reverse graffiti, a method of creating temporary art on walls and other surfaces by removing dirt from the surface.
""Artists will go into really dirty subways stations with cleaning supplies and they make art in the grime,"" Hain said, ""They put up really radical messages in the dirt and dress like maintenance teams and the cops can't bust them. It's kind of a neat idea, that you can create art by cleaning public space.""
This progressive form of reverse graffiti may someday replace the spray cans and paint of past graffiti art rebellion, but the debate still continues whether graffiti is truly a form of art, or simply a way to damage property. Whichever connotation graffiti takes, its impact, good or bad, is just as powerful as the bold messages and pictures painted throughout the city.
While the paint dries on Mother Fool's wall, attitudes toward graffiti will continue to change just as quickly as a new message will coat the white brick each at the end of the month.
