Art: Graffiti – art or crime?

1 Read about graffiti. What do you think?

If you draw a picture on your school desk, is this a crime?

Graffiti is also known as street art. But is graffiti an art or a crime?

Graffiti is an art
If art is a painting or drawing that is created to be
beautiful or to
express ideas, then graffiti is art.
Major art museums, collectors and celebrities pay
thousands of pounds for works by famous graffiti
artists such as the English artist Banksy. When
Banksy painted a mural showing two Hollywood
actors holding bananas near a London underground
station, art critics said that it could be worth
£300,000. But the transport authorities disagreed: it
was their property and Banksy didn’t have their
permission, so they painted over the mural.

Graffiti is a crime
Graffiti artists rarely have permission to draw or paint, so if the graffiti
damages the property, then this is vandalism. In the UK, vandals can
receive an ASBO (an Anti-Social Behaviour Order or ASBO is an official
document issued by a British court), a fine or even a prison sentence.
Transport for London (TfL), the organization which runs the public
transport system in London, spends millions of pounds a year to
remove graffiti from their trains, platforms and bus stops.

2 Read the clues and find the answers in the word-

square.
R E M U T P E N A R
P A I N T I N G M C
R R G I M T P R C V
D T H R A O A A O N
R I V R A U S F L D
A S N O G F E E L S 1 A person who collects art.
W T E T S F F T E A 2 A person who is rich and famous.
I O M E R U F I C O 3 A piece of art that is created with pencil.
N C E L E B R I T Y 4 A piece of art that is created with paints.
G L B R I T E T O I 5 A person who creates art.
C A D R N W B Y R L
3 Complete the sentences with the words in the box.

critic graffiti mural museum works

1 The art ______________said that the painting was worth £250,000.

2 A ______________is a painting that is painted on a wall.
3 The Ashmolean ______________in Oxford has a beautiful collection of paintings.
4 Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is one of the most famous ______________of art in the world.
5 Many people think that ______________isn’t art –it’s vandalism.