Recently, I posed the question: “ Do you consider street art vandalism or art?” to the TED group to see its members’ thoughts on the issue. Clearly I’m pro-street art, but I received some interesting responses that I think would be insightful to share with all you tumblr folk. I’ve put together a word collage with snippets of the responses that I feel are most provocative, enjoyable, or clever. I’d love to get peoples’ opinions on this! Let’s get worded up. Just click HERE.

“Why can’t it be both? Just because traditionally fine artworks were produced on canvas or paper does not mean that they can’t also be created on brick walls.” 

“Communist answer: “It’s a vork of art. But you did it on property of mother Russia. You must go to jail.”
Capitalist answer: “If the spray paint can be legitimately used as a tax deduction, then the work was likely commissioned by the owner of the wall…in which case it was art. Otherwise, you must go to jail.”
California answer: “Dude, what art?”“

“It’s like a tattooing a wall. Tattoos blur and become boringly out-of-date over time, as does graffiti…Sure, the occasional tattoo and/or graffiti can imply some smarts, but most are just hilariously wrong. (Actually, hilariously wrong can be good.)”

“I’d say it’s definitely art as it is the result of people’s need to express themselves and make their surroundings more colourful.”

“I think as a society we’ve gone too far down the route of acting like outraged grandmothers when graffiti appears, and a lot of pompous words are spouted and draconian punishment meted out to a bunch of kids out having a laugh.”

“If Picasso painted Guernica on my garage door, the fact that it’s powerful and provocative doesn’t alter the fact that it’s my garage door (and I love Picasso).”