Enough Graffiti

Is it an eye-sore or an art?

Barcelona is a city that is full of graffiti. I am overwhelmed by how much graffiti there is. There must be a lot of bored or rebellious people here who seek to intrude upon the property of others by adding their artistic talents - or sometimes lack of.

Bus stops, shop windows, roller doors of shops, ATMs, buses and even cars fall victim to the graffiti artist. I have seen so much graffiti all over than place that I would be wrong to say that it is restricted to only the list above. A undecorated surface is a very vulnerable surface. These "artists" here are always on the look out for an empty surface. As I mentioned, I have even seen cars with graffiti on the paintwork. That would push me over the top. I would be furious but then what could you do if you have to park your car out on the street at night and there is no control over what happens to it ?

The other night I was walking home in the dark and I noticed a woman with a can, spraying the window of an office building. Immediately, I thought that she was doing graffiti. I certainly would not intervene or make comments as I do not want to antagonise a person that may become violent, I thought. As I came closer I noted that the woman was spraying paint remover onto the window, in an effort to remove graffiti from the window. She was a cleaner - who was trying to remove the precious "artwork" from a corporate company's office.

Some of the graffiti on shop fronts or roller doors in front of shops has artistic qualities. Perhaps the owners of the shops do not end up removing the graffiti on their premises because their shops acquire some sort of individual identity with the graffiti. Then again, as soon as the space is undecorated, it will be redecorated just as fast so there is no point to removing graffiti I guess.

So, is graffiti an eye sore or an art ? A bit of both. On your car, it is an eye sore. On a shop front, perhaps it is artwork.