🚫 No, Graffiti is not art.

Another opinion post of me on Linkedin. Check it here to also read the comments. Yet, last Friday evening, the graffiti writer BOMB painted his name on the Van Abbemuseum

I get this question often: 'But do you think graffiti is art?' This question usually comes after someone mentions they like commissioned works but not the tags or 'ugly' stuff on the streets. 

My answer is simple: 'No, graffiti is not art. It's already graffiti; why does it need to be something else?'

In the same way, I personally don’t like to see a graffiti piece on a canvas, and I don’t think a graffiti piece belongs inside a museum; if anywhere, it should be on the outside for everyone to see. 

So I'm incredibly grateful the museum understood my perspective and embraced my idea to let my graffiti hero BOMB paint the museum.

🐺 Graffiti is like the wild wolf, pure and untamed in its natural habitat, unlike the domesticated dog, more accepted and adapted to human environments. Just as the wolf is the ancestor of the dog, these wild, raw graffiti tags and pieces are the predecessors of the stylized murals and street art we see in urban landscapes today. 

Some forms of graffiti, documentation, and projects about or by graffiti writers fit perfectly inside. I curate shows like this myself.

But how to best give a graffiti piece a place in the art context? By giving it a place where it feels most at home: not in the museum but on it. 

By presenting it in its purest form, the alias in the public space. Not in the zoo, behind fences, but free like the wolf in its natural habitat.

Notably, in recent years there has been an increase in walls being offered for ‘street art’ and murals. At the roots of these art forms lies graffiti culture. I'm also proud that it stays true to the essence of the graffiti culture—no birds, flowers, or realistic faces, just writing your name. A local milestone that recognizes and celebrates our culture! It's inspiring to see the museum acknowledge the raw, unfiltered essence of graffiti.

And I hope more museums and institutions will be inspired by this because it's not always that these two worlds understand each other.

Part 2: So I hope more museums and institutions will be inspired by this because it's not always that these two worlds understand each other.

For instance, I look with some doubt at the Museum Murals initiative by the Mauritshuis and 20 other Dutch museums. 

Each museum asks a street artist/muralist to be inspired by the museum's collection, resulting in murals (artworks). It’s a great opportunity for these artists and great to see these museums working with artists they might not normally engage with. 

Sometimes, the curation is excellent, ensuring both the artist and the museum are a perfect match and both are probably 100% satisfied.

However, it seems quite bold for museums to impose this requirement in the project that an artist should be inspired by something from the museum's collection.

By having this thematic requirement, the resulting works will, to some extent, align with the museum's content and not be purely independent expressions. 

This raises the question of whether we are also discussing museum marketing here. It’s written in the info, also on their LinkedIn Museum Murals, that the project seems to have a goal like this: "In this way, the museums break down walls, showcase their collection outside the museum, and engage a new audience with their museum and collection.”

I have a feeling such an approach can weaken the essence of street art: Street art and graffiti flourish through freedom and spontaneity. 

When museums ask artists to base their work on existing collections, they restrict this freedom. This contrasts with the BOMB piece at the Van Abbemuseum, where graffiti is shown in its purest form, without restrictions. 

Let me make it clear that any museum, art institution, municipality, or housing cooperative that contributes to visibility and income for these creators is doing a very good job. And I’m happy the artists involved get opportunities and can make a living. 

However, I hope more commissioners will give graffiti and street art the space they deserve, in their own environment and on their own terms.

Of course, I'm always open for a talk so please comment in my Linkedin of send me an email if I'm (hopefully) seeing it all wrong. 

Last photo by Nick Bookelaar