Art Crimes

Love the article "Art Crimes" by Nadia Pflaum!

While I am not an art student and, other than woodcarving, can't really consider myself an artist (though I am the son of an artist); I do have a strong personal connection to art. That connection led me to write about “Graffiti as Art.”

In the spring of 1988, in my final semester as an undergrad, I still needed to complete an Art Appreciation course and it wasn't scheduled for that semester.

To find a solution, I met with the dean of the Art Dept in his office (Monet, Renoir and other Impressionist on every wall). The options he offered - three 5-7 page papers that would lead to a final grade or one more extensive, 15-20 page paper that would do the same. I, not wanting to deal with multiple papers and believing I could come up with a topic that could do the trick, chose the single paper option. I went home with the task of finding that topic to report back to the dean within two days. He stated that he would make a decision then as to whether to accept the topic or recommend a different one.

While hanging at a bar and "seeing a man about a horse," I was reminded of how artistic and poetic graffiti can be and thought at length about the possibilities. In two days I came back and stated that I had chosen Graffiti as my topic. He was very uneasy about the selection but, over the course of 10 minutes I convinced him to let me use it. He stated that it would be difficult to prove Graffiti was art but that he would allow it and looked forward to seeing the results in a matter of weeks.

Over the course of the semester I researched the history (Pompei, the ghettos of European cities, the Christmas Train in New York, early tag artists, etc., etc.), and gathered together photographs I had taken in San Francisco and elsewhere.

When all was said and done, I not only convinced him but, I receive an "A+ !" on the paper. Victory was mine!

The article "Art Crimes" has obviously brought back memories but it has also validated my (and so many others') appreciation for this art form. Thank you!