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This is a discussion
Today in class, I suggested that a possible way to evaluate how we feel about Paleolithic “cave art” might be to examine how we feel about contemporary graffiti art.
For a quick summary of graffiti as a form of expression and as an art form, see the following Wikipedia post on graffiti.
It is interesting to me, for example, how the modern act of “tagging” offers a possible insight into the various handprints or symbols written on cave walls.
As it turns out, people have been writing things on walls and other monuments since ancient times. In class I showed you a runic graffiti dating to the Viking era (8th-11th AD) in the 6th AD church of Hagia Sophia as well as an example from Pompeii, where graffiti was quite common.
Much more recently, beginning perhaps with the 1979 exhibition of “street art” of Fab 5 Freddy and Lee Quinones in Rome, graffiti art has become a hot commodity in the contemporary art world. Artists like Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Shepard Fairey, Banksy and his inspiration Blek le Rat have become hot commodities, with examples of their art occasionally fetching thousands or even millions of dollars. Most recently, there was an uproar over the loss of a famous piece by Banksy.
If you want to watch a short documentary about the evolving relationship between graffiti and street art, try this one.
All this raises some interesting questions and I’d love to see what you think. What is your opinion on the following?
?Is the comparison of cave paintings to graffiti valid? Why or why not? In other words, can you think of any uses of graffiti today that could not be used to interpret paintings in the Paleolithic era?
?For those with more experience with contemporary graffiti art, can you think of other parallels between paintings in the stone age and today that have not already been mentioned?
?Does something have to be intended as art to be considered art or does something become art when someone says so? If so, who?
?Is it possible that writing on walls is an essential aspect of being human? Given the prevalence of this activity in the past, what does the current perception of graffiti as vandalism say about contemporary society?
