Street ART

Graffiti and street art have been around as early as ancient Rome but has had a nasty reputation related to vandalism, which is a leading factor to why most people have a blind eye to seeing its real meaning. Banksy, a well-known street artist whose art work is symbolic, insightful, and meaningful is always being called out for vandalism instead of being praised for his work. Graffiti is most abundant in urban areas, but most of the graffiti in New York City isn’t symbolic or meaningful, it’s mostly rude and irrelevant. All around the city people would write their names, gang signs, pop icons, curse words, and graphic pictures. For the artists who draw their gang signs and curse words on every vertical surface in the city, shame on them their work has no meaning or benefit to the rest of the world. Benksy on the other hand, creates street art that allows his audience to appreciate it because he creates art out of vandalism.

This street art by Banksy, shown above, is a fine example of how much meaning graffiti can have. “What we do in life echoes in eternity” The quote by itself is meaningful, telling people that their past is the past and cannot be changed. Banksy contradicts the quote by drawing in a man with cleaning supplies wiping away “… Eternity” showing that if the quote was totally erased then no one would have known it was ever there making whatever he wrote not echo in eternity. The man with the cleaning supplies can also have another meaning. By erasing eternity this man could be trying to hide his past. Banksy’s street art has meaning and should not be categorized as vandalism. In this photo you can clearly tell the difference between vandalism and Banksy’s work. The vandalism is the scribbled mess of irrelevant and hurtful words and Banksy’s work is the beaver who is ironically standing over a fallen sign. This piece of work is comical as well as artistic. Banksy is taking the best of a bad situation, instead of looking at the broken sign as