Graffiti Becomes Art, and Raises its Own Standards

Many graffiti artists ("writers") lament that graffiti is dying, that the old values of originality and respect which kept it moving have been lost. This is not true. Its problems have simply evolved with the medium. Graffiti has become larger, and suffers from what might be called "cultural growing pains." In the early days, graffitists had to cope with scores of people asking "but is it art?" Nowadays, a glance through any collection of modern graffiti - such as Art Crimes - will establish certain graffiti as art to all but the most conservative observer. Much of his has to do with a worldwide boom in legally sanctioned spaces for graffiti art in the last ten years.