Gaffiti Art

Bojorquez's piece made me think back to a conversation I had with a colleague of mine while touring through Latin America. Especially as we traveled through Mexico City we saw a vast array of Graffiti from people tagging to expresartemexico sponsored masterpieces. After talking to some of the locals about the artivism that is going on with expresartemexico it is hard not to support a cause that keeps kids away from drugs and violence by funneling what is inherently art into a more "mainstream" idea of art. While I agree to some degree with many people who have written about how tagging simply a gang sign or name isn't art I think there is something to be further explored in this. Something is motivating this person's choices to put anything up for people to see, the color, the scale, the location. While I hate the ammount of pointless defacing that arrises from this there is an amazing amount of freedom that can arise from literally anything being a potential surface. Ultimately art is about expression and there is no doubt that the people creating graffiti are expressing themselves through their medium to convey emotion.