What's your take on graffiti?

Do you think that it's good? bad? do you like the more artistic one's? do you hate the "Johnny Was Here" pen written ones? 
 
And as a side note to try and create more discussion value, which area have you considered unreachable has been graffiti-ed? 
 
And to answer my own questions I like it when they get over the top, but I hate it when you see only a persons name scrawled on the wall. And also I've seen this stuff at the top of the side of a building which at the time I thought  was pretty weird [can't find an example so just take my word for it]

It's kind of funny because the medium is extremely unwieldy. You need to zoom out in order to get control of what you're drawing, and it's hard to do that when the piece is as big as you.

That said, it's unsurprising that all of the graffiti generally sucks more than regular art. If you put up graffiti, that's basically saying "HEY GUYS LOOK AT MY ART, I'M MAKING YOU", like it's some billboard ad. If I wanted to look at your art, I'd go to your DA, okay?

Thanks for bringing this question up, you made me realize my take on graffiti. Fuck em. 

Well i like it when its more then a name, 
 
 anyone can write there name in diffrent kinda fonts and do that all the time.. but the people who do the real artsy things those are the ones i like..
 
i also like that clean graffity things thats comming around, where they take a piece of wall and clean the wall with water and create something with the dirt that's already oon the wall..
 
dunno what its called but hope you understand me :)

I respect graffiti art, but only if it's meant to be...artful. Not the typical "Yo we just tagged this place! This shit is ourz!"
 
Rather thick line between good graffiti and bad graffiti. I will admit, there have been times where I have thought to do some graffiti for the sake of art. But I've never used a spray can for art before, and time is always important when defacing something. 

love it. 
graffitti is good in most instances its only crap looking permanent marker tags & "scratchies" that look bad. 
proper pieces are great.

tagging is fucking dumb while actual grafiti where the artist has put actual effort in the work is fucking rad.

I think it belongs in Jet Set Radio. Also real world Graffiti doesn't really bother me, as long as it's not on something I like or own. 

 
I love Graffiti.
 
Names,art,doesn't matter,its awesome.

I enjoy the artistic pieces of graffiti, but i find that "tagging" (which I hate) is much more common. =/

I don't particularly like it and I don't see the need for it.

i find 80-90% of it to be nothing but immature vandalism (OMFG i totally just wrote my "tag" on someones fence!!! WAAAHHHH!). The stuff that is actual art i dont have problem with. I love stuff by Banksy.  

" Well i like it when its more then a name,    anyone can write there name in diffrent kinda fonts and do that all the time.. but the people who do the real artsy things those are the ones i like..  i also like that clean graffity things thats comming around, where they take a piece of wall and clean the wall with water and create something with the dirt that's already oon the wall..  dunno what its called but hope you understand me :) "

I like it, but only if its tasteful and creative. Most of the shit is vandalism.

Tagging = Shit 
Graffiti Art = Amazing

I absolutely love graffiti in general. 
But alot of it is basically vandalism, sadly. 
I've seen some urban areas absolutely covered in grafitti, and honestly some of the walls really look good with it.

ARCHSCABBY
 
 
I totally tagged this thread.

If it isnt vandalism its ok. I can imagine the frustration of spending all your money on building a house and someone coming and tagging it with no regard to your feelings :/

I like trying to figure out how the "taggers" managed to "tag" a spot that they did. For example, when I lived in Maine I remember this railroad track that went over a raging river and was very high up. Somebody managed to put graffiti on the side of it. To this day I still don't understand how they did it.

I know a lot of people who do graffiti, some are graffiti artists, some vandals...
 
I can very much appreciate trying to bring some art into the concrete jungle but the problem is that most of the graffiti you see is as boring as the slum it's trying to liven up... It's become synonymous with the tame cement and a completely clean wall side is almost more eye-catching and unique.
 
I really love the guys who make pictures by removing dirt from walls, that looks awesome and has a way more intelligent underlying statement.

I think it's kinda cool, as long as you can still read it and it's not sprayed onto monuments or private property or something

I love it. Banksy <3

Some graffiti is really impressive. I can't NOT appreciate it when it takes the amount of skill and dedication to pull off as some of the stuff out there.

I like graffiti when it is actually something artistic and expressing something. Not just some punk ass kid who thinks tagging his gang's name  or whatever is fucking cool.

I'm all for it, they can light up many butt-ugly places with minimal costs. Unless they're poorly written curses or "FUCK JEWZ" with a black spray, of course.

I love graffiti.  If you take the time to study it, you'll find it's one of the most rapidly evolving and misunderstood mediums in the art world.  Perception is changing though, as a lot of writers ("taggers" as some people call them) are moving onto legitimate professional work.  A lot of them are very successful in the fine art world due to the broad recognition of their graffiti persona.   
 
What I love most about graffiti is that generally theres strong directionality and movement.  Anyone who writes knows what I'm talking about, from hand-styles to murals, everything has to flow together.  I like the fluidity and creativity in the lettering.  I love the tongue and cheek social commentary from artists like Banksy.  I don't write anymore, but I haven't stopped obsessing over it.  Sure as hell miss it though, the rush from it is like the first few seconds of skydiving.  This vid has some good images of Banksy and Space Invader, looking forward to the film. 
 
JetsetGraffiti is a good site for people interested in big names in graffiti and the fine art world.

I like proper graffiti where it's a drawing of a figure or something, especially when it's in a boring dark place and they make use of an entire wall. There's this place near where I used to go to school where the entire street is decorated like this (here's another image from the same place) . 

I hate when it's just the crew-name in huge sparkly and bubly letters, but that can be cool sometimes if it's colorful and well made. But I always hate tag/throw-up bombing.

If its artistic i like it. The weirdest place ive seen it was when i was in the new york subway and i saw it on one of the tunnels walls.

THIS is NOT graffiti:

 
THIS however IS grafitti:

I fail to see any "movement" behind them. They just have big egos.

A low form of art.

It's work of art when it's not destroying property.

There are two things tat factor my taste in graffiti one is what it is done in, and two is what it says.
 
Pen+says something nice=ok
pen+says something stupid=not ok
pen+says something stupid or nice, yet really artistic=ok
sp=spraypaint
sp+says something nice, looks awesome=ok
sp+looks bad=not ok
sp+awesome artwork=ok
 
I love watching trains where every car is painted, i taped it one day, then my dog ate my camera

some of it can look beautiful, artistic, and overall cool. But a lot of it is utter shit, with random letters and words that don't make sense together, and weren't even painted in a good fashion. If you're going to do graffiti, I'd practice it first, just so it won't look like utter shit. Because in some cases, I appreciate graffiti... then in other cases it just makes me despise graffiti.

I hate it, but ive found a distinct lack of good graffiti around the my small area of Australia.

" Tagging = Shit Graffiti Art = Amazing "

i like the artistic graff writing. the other shit that takes only 5 seconds to spray isn't worth shit. it's nothing but a piss stain on buildings, walls, overpasses, and train cars.
 
here's an awesome song and music video that'll go well with this topic: