Thursday, April 27, 2006

Art or Vandalism: The Graffiti Scene Steps it Up a Notch with Acid

Yesterday's article in the NYTimes about a new type of graffiti cropping up on the subways. Bloomberg recently passed a strict new law making it illegal for anyone under 21 to carry graffiti writing instruments. Opponents the citywide ban on the possession of "graffiti instruments," including etching acid, call it an infringement on freedom of speech.

Read the NYTimes article below and you decide: Is Graffiti Art or Vandalism:

Of all the images from the 1970's and 1980's of a city out of control, perhaps none is etched more deeply into the public consciousness than that of the graffiti-covered subway train screeching into a station, every inch of its surface covered with a rich patina of spray-painted slashes and scrawls.

It took decades of work and millions of dollars to clean up the trains. But now officials are seeing a fresh surge of subway graffiti, in which windows are irreparably damaged with acid. Raising the specter of the bad old days, transit officials are vowing to fight a problem they say is even more menacing than the graffiti of decades past.

Click here for the full article.

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