Graffiti - What is it

...and how do we deal with it

At some time or other, you may have wondered what is Graffiti and how does it appear in the most unlikely places. Most important of all: why don´t we ever catch the ´artists´ responsible for this night madness? Has anyone ever taken the time & effort to talk to a “Graffiti Artist” and tried to get a plausible explanation why this ´art´ form is a constant nuisance and damages more property than anything else?

In this article we will try to shed some light on these issues, common around the world. It is not just here in Canada, even in the most remote places like Iceland we find graffiti and often in remote and hard to get to locations. What makes graffiti so popular?

Is it an expression of misplaced artistic talent, an outlet for stress or unhappiness, or is it simply a feeling of creating an identity or trying to attract attention? There can be many reasons and most of them are valid and important to many Graffiti artists, no doubt, otherwise why do it!

Do you think, some of the famous expressionists started their artistic careers with graffiti paintings before they became real artists and great Masters? Who can tell what motivates a person to go under cover of night into dark alleys or sneak up to an Office tower or a Retail store and spray the walls or the shop windows with many different colors, without design or proper content?

To many of our citizens, graffiti has become a useless, dirty and offensive violation which is no longer tolerated by Government and Corporate businesses alike. Leaving them with the task of removing graffiti from their property - a hassle and annoyance. In some parts of our global village, there is so much graffiti, that we are unable to control it or subdue it, no matter how diligent we try. But it is important to understand that graffiti will never disappear nor will it diminish to the point where we tolerate it. Perhaps the answer lies in promoting mural paintings, entire walls with a nice picture or a composite drawing of an event... possibilities exists?

The Problem with Graffiti

Graffiti in most cases is a random expression of a patchwork of colors which means nothing to the causal observer but everything to the ´Artist´ Even in its purest form, anyone with some artistic knowledge has problems understanding it, because it is meaningless and offensive, a mish-mash of colors degrading our buildings, homes and many public areas! The unfortunate side effect is that many try to remove the graffiti using caustic and hazardous chemicals - thankfully effective environmentally friendly graffiti removal products do exist.

What can we do to eliminate this ugly expression of ´free art´ as some would call it? To be brutally honest: very little and perhaps any attempt at prevention is a complete waste of time, because there are simply not enough who possess both the means to make a difference and the willingness to do so. In our humble opinion, until Governments and City Administrators pass legislation putting in place the proper by-laws to clean up this mess we will have to live with graffiti.

Until that time Futur Graffiti is here to help clean up the mess and protect your environment from destructive graffiti.