culture

Art or eyesore: should graffiti be protected?

Joshua Crouthamel

Hosier Lane

"Graffiti clean-up last year cost Victorian tax payers $400 million."

Joshua Crouthamel

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Culture Melbourne Art Australia Victoria

Everyone seems to be talking about Melbourne's iconic graffiti, which has polarised Australians in the debate over its possible protection by National Trust and Heritage Victoria.

World-renowned British street artist Banksy has been quoted as saying Melbourne's laneways are arguably Australia's most significant contribution to the arts since "they" stole all the Aborigine's pencils.

But some local residents beg to differ. It is estimated that graffiti clean-up last year cost Victorian tax payers $400 million, and should infamous alleyways, such as Hosier Lane, gain government protection, spray-painted bins and manga megababes will enjoy higher real estate value than most homes in the area.

National Trust's cultural heritage manager Tracey Avery has stated that "graffiti is a unique part of Melbourne's urban fabric, particularly in our laneways, which attract a huge amount of visitors and contribute to the city's vibrancy". And she's right — a recent online poll conducted by Lonely Planet revealed that Melbourne's street art was voted the nation's most popular cultural attraction.

So do we continue to give the tourists what they want and encourage transient art by protecting it?

Regardless of your opinion on whether it is art or an eyesore, a trip to Melbourne would be incomplete without a visit to these alleyways that are home to this controversial renaissance.

Designer and culture vulture Fiona Sweetman leads expert walks through the area on her Hidden Secrets Tours. Prepare to meet important movers and shakers in the ephemeral arts world, such as her friend Andrew Mac, who runs a gallery called Until Never right in the heart of Hosier Lane. Mac focuses on placing transient art in a permanent setting, and in doing so, inspires street artists whose work, albeit temporary, can lead to sustainable, lasting careers in the art world. And his finger-on-the-pulse relationship with artists and taggers alike make him the go-to for graffiti gossip. You'll probably meet a few would-be Banksys along the way as well; the distinctive sound of a spray-paint container being shaken nearby is a soundtrack in this neighbourhood.

Though some perceive Melbourne's graffiti scene to be occupied entirely by young local thugs, in truth, international artists of some acclaim have been drawn to the alleys off Flinders Street. Parisian artist Fafi and American artist Kill Pixie are two of many overseas names who have left their (illegal?) mark on Melbourne while packing out galleries in Europe and the US.

That said, graffiti is still a crime in Victoria, and according to state laws, offenders risk fines in excess of $27,000 and up to two years in prison.

Be sure to check out our photo gallery of Melbourne graffiti by clicking here:

So is a bit of paint on the wall really art? Or should it earn the artist two years in the clink? What do you think?

Related gallery: Banksy's awesome graffiti

Related video: Melbourne's best graffiti

User comments

love it i think we should embrass the people that can do real street art it is def a gift from god i personaly would like to c more peops paid for there art work as long as it is true artwork not scribbles of wrighting but even some hits when have the perfect flow i belive is art its about the presentation and practice makes perfect so it has to be done badly in order to become perfect . there should be sertin spots where it is alowed

if u want to destroy public property or someones priviate property with that stupid art form which only amuses the minds of destroyed and disturbed teenagers and drug addicted adults, then do it to ur own bloody back yard, us hard working australians are feed up with seeing public and private destruction everywhere we look!

This crap is not graffiti, its street art Slash stencils usually done by artfags aka Banksy. Graff will never be stopped no matter how hard anyone tries, so you might as well get use to it. Btw all those ‘*** tags’ you see, they take years to develop Hahah, look at all you Do Gooders. What you’ve never littered? Never done an illegal Uturn? Never done a couple of k’s over the speed limit? Try and buff this..

Depends on what it is and where it is. Most of it is ugly and an eyesore.

If we gotta have it only the good stuff please and get 'em a licence to do it. No stupid taggers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is total corruption to compare a Piccaso to a scrawl on a wall by a sneak graffiist, when people try to bring age into art, I will just say look at the true masters, I guess Michaelangelo was a master graffitist but he was commissioned to paint walls and ceilings, I know that doesn't make his work any more less valuable than a Tician or a Rembrandt, but spray painting a rat using a stencil in a laneway doesn't rank as a masterpiece in my book. As an Artist myself I am amiss to understand the waste of talent scrawling on walls in dirty and sometimes smelly laneways and under bridges infact anywhere they stand little chance of being stopped in mid scrawl, We need a ministry for Art encompasing all vistas of Art and to encourage the use of real talented Artists and put graffiti behind us. Canvas Rather than bricks.

two years in the clink...for the casualties(innocent kids) who follow graff artists.....sneak out of home to follow silly losers around and paint on a wall(of a shop..where someone was earning money to buy their babies formula and nappies)...get away from other peoples children, graffiti morons...graffitti morons get out of adelaide your reputation is well known and your kids are not wanted in any social circles due to the stress that graffitti artists have caused many parents and kids in adelaide...go away graffitti old skool..go away!

get them out of my sight...or you go and get my kids back...calculate the financial losses of ..calculate the emotional ordeal of havig lost many kids to messy pretenders(graff in adelaide)

graffiti artists in adelaide ran around pretending to be somebody special(especially in the eighties and nineties..they brainwashed many children..and many parents lost alot of sleep..and many kids ended up on the street following graffbludgers around...tmost of the pretenders never had a job and they didnt calculate how many jobs the parents of the youth of adelaide had to work to raise their kids up right...only to have a graffitti dreamer introduce himself to the local kids as a great artist...dont tell me about graffitti artists you go and get my kids back..(a few graff artists got jobs and moved on)...but a couple of old losers...(i wont tell you their names)...are still lurking around east end and other places.....in the shadows....get them a job cleaning toilets.....calculate the losses for the parents that they messed with...no respect...leave adelaide..no more graff.

There is a great difference between graffiti and street art. Graffiti is the tagging of illegible soulless words across a wall, across someone else's work. Street art is the work of people such as Banksy, that carries with it a message to everyone that sees it and an important meaning. That expression of meaning, the expression of what a person believes in, is what makes it art, just like the art that gets hung in galleries. These days, your more likely to get a powerful message from street art than in any "high class gallery".

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