Street Art is a style and an influence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Street Art is a style and an influence - Essay Example The definition of street art, whether discussing the spray painted graffiti of Banksy or the chalk sidewalk drawings of Beever, changes depending upon who is providing the definition. Although often referred to as art, its artistic merits are frequently ignored or deemed unimportant, as is exemplified in the definition provided by the Dublin City Council in which only one of the five listed characteristics even mentions its artistic qualities: â€Å"Graffiti is illegal and an anti-social activity that creates a negative impression of an area and contributes to people’s fear of crime; †¦ is the most common type of property vandalism; †¦ is often the first element in a spiral of decline; †¦ Its artistic merits are irrelevant. It represents one group of people imposing themselves on everyone else and as such is a form of pollution, like people playing loud music †¦ is also a green issue as it is an attack on the environment.† Because chalk art washes aw ay with a good rain, this is not often considered to be as great a nuisance as the spray-paint-wielding wall painters and is thus not addressed in such specific terms by government agencies. Attempting to present a more objective view, Stowers (2005) says simply â€Å"Graffiti is art†, but then follows this with an argument against the establishment definitions with â€Å"The reasons, including aesthetic criteria, as to why it is an art form far outweigh the criticism of illegality, incoherence, and nonstandard presentation.† While both the work of Banksy in spray pain.