Graffiti

Graffiti - Art or Vandalism

“If it gives kids something to do and gets them off the streets

I don't think that's a bad thing.”

November 2016 If you are one of the many in Groby who catch the bus into Leicester you may well walk from St Margaret's bus station up Short Street towards the centre. One side of this narrow street has the rather ugly backs of the Churchgate shops and bars, the other a boarded development site. Pretty grim.

But recently the graffiti artists arrived and nobbled the whole street from end to end, so it's now a chaotic blaze of colour. One of the works is less abstract than the rest and most striking. But is it Art or Vandalism?

Some graffiti is very creative, but often it's in the wrong place, though perhaps not in this instance of a depressing urban landscape. Back in 2013 Leicester City Council spent nearly £100,000 to clean off the work of two graffiti writers and offered a £500 reward to help track the culprits.

Last year ITV news spoke to Leicester graffiti artist Ample Aerosolicz who came from a one parent family and difficult circumstances. His mother suffered from a brain tumour when he was 5-years-old and was unable to work after three operations. He started graffiti when he was about 12 years old, attracted by the notoriety and adolescent rebellion.

By the time he was 17 he had just started to get into the more arty side of graffiti, doing full colour pieces, but the trouble became too much so he ultimately gave it up. He retained his interest and a few years later started painting again for about 2 years as a hobby, learning and trying to increase his skills and to show a positive aspect to graffiti.

(Photo from itv.com - see link below)

"It was about this time that I was made redundant from work in the engineering industry which was quite upsetting,” he said “and after about 6-9 months of being out of work I decided to make a business out of it. Since then, it’s gone from strength to strength over the past 4-5 years. I've done various commissions. The work I do with various youth groups provides the opportunity to teach children a positive view of Graf, showing that it’s a good form of expression, and that it can brighten up run down areas.”

It's certainly brightened up Short Street though the designs won't be to everyone's taste. “This is a privately owned site which was previously subject to lots of graffiti, some of it obscene, and our graffiti team had lots of complaints from retailers near by,” explained a spokesperson for Leicester City Council. “The owner has agreed for it to be used as a legal site for graffiti and I’m told there are far fewer instances of the other type of graffiti in the area now, and our graffiti team has had no complaints about the street’s new look. Therefore I think we can say that there is a place for this sort of street art, as long as the owner of the site concerned has given their consent for it, and in this case it has brightened up part of the city that was previously subject to ad-hoc and obscene graffiti.” So at this site it's not considered vandalism.

Emma Fitzpatrick, current Chair of the award winning Leicester Sketch Club, likes graffiti if there is artistic skill involved and it is in a run down area. “It can add beauty and vitality to a depressing area. Leicester needs more visual stimuli,” she added.

Mark Wilde, who runs watercolour classes locally believes most street artists would not graffiti a listed building but would consider a dull, uninspiring wall in a back alley as usually fair game. The artists can still can get arrested doing it but this is probably part of the excitement. “Street art is pretty much accepted now as a legitimate art form,” he added. “Many cities are commissioning artists to decorate walls in grey urban areas. Loughborough commissioned a huge street artwork above the market area and then, strangely, ordered another artist's work to be removed from another area, even though the shops and residents on the street supported the art staying. So it's not very clear what's allowed and what isn't, legally."

Commenting on the portrait parts of the graffiti on Short Street he said “Those are striking images indeed. I think that these were done freehand, while some artists, like Banksy and me, use stencils. Many of the freehand artists don't think much of the stencil artists as they see theirs as a purer art.”

So it seems quality work in the right environment can be an asset and brighten a dull urban landscape. But in the wrong place even the best may earn the tag 'Art and Vandalism.'

You can see the ITV report on Ample and his work with young people in Braunstone at http://www.itv.com/news/central/2015-06-19/meet-the-leicester-graffiti-artist-painting-the-city (or just Google itv graffiti Leicester). “I would rather show them how to express themselves with a can of paint rather than them going out and expressing themselves with knives or getting into trouble,” Ample said. “If it gives kids something to do and gets them off the streets I don't think that's a bad thing.”

It's hard to disagree with that sentiment, but what do you think?