Comment: Writing's on the wall for graffiti

11:02am Tuesday 22nd April 2008

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Graffiti is the art form that will never die. For decades the authorities have tried to strangle it, without success.

Brighton and Hove City Council is now proposing to close the graffiti park at The Level. But as MILES GODFREY discovered, many believe outlawing graffiti will just push artists back on to the streets.

One man's Banksy is another man's Monet.

Art is about whatever floats your boat. Which is why Seen, the New York-based artist, is as famous as Cezanne in many people's books.

And while graffiti remains perhaps the most low-brow of all art, it remains the most democratic.

The fact that anybody can pick up a spray-paint can and have their say on life means it will always be popular.

Many argue that the worst examples look messy. But at its best, graffiti can brighten up an area and offer a much needed creative outlet to young people.

It makes Brighton and Hove City Council's attempts to stop it all the more futile, critics say. The closure of the graffiti park at The Level will only force artists to spray elsewhere, and walls and buildings across the city will become their new canvas.

Perhaps worse than that, artists have claimed that graffiti adds character to a town or city and that effectively banning it will make Brighton indistinguishable from other places.

The closure, which will be decided upon in the coming weeks, follows the demise of similar graffiti "toleration zones" elsewhere in Sussex.

Earlier this year the city council decided to close Tarner Park, which had been a toleration zone since the late 1980s. Other sites in the Davigdor area of Hove, Worthing and Brighton Marina have also been shut.

David Samuel, owner of graffiti gallery Rarekind in Preston Street, is among those who believe the move will simply push artists back on to the streets.

He said: "Brighton Council closing all the legal sites around town is a very backward move to make.

"Over the last three years Brighton's graffiti artists have been working with the council in dealing with the tagging problem Brighton had.

"We have painted walls for them in areas that were getting painted illegally and in some cases the council has paid large amounts of money to the artists to produce these paintings.

"It has been an ongoing project.

The council also pays for youth work schemes, where kids from youth clubs and schools in the area have been taught to paint properly.

"A lot has been put into the tolerance of the art form and the public's thoughts on graffiti have changed to them now seeing it as a positive. By closing these parks they are pushing the paintings to the streets again, something which we were trying to control.

"Kids who spent time in these parks - including Tarner Park and The Level - learning how to paint properly and producing proper pieces are now being pushed to the streets.

"The city has all these large inspirational murals around the town, which have been amazing for the residents and tourists to the city.

"By having these parks the kids have somewhere to use the inspiration they find in these murals.

"Now there is nothing left and all the work that was put in to moving them away from tags and illegal graffiti is going full-circle and the streets are going to get painted again.

"In the last two months there have been many more tags around the place. They have dealt with the situation all wrong."

Dan Thompson, of Worthingbased Revolutionary Arts Group and vice-chairman of Worthing Arts Council, is among those who believe graffiti is good.

He said: "I think good graffiti's great - it can really cheer up dull corners of cities.

"What makes it most exciting is the diversity of work that comes under the graffiti umbrella, from small stickers to wall-sized pieces.

"For a creative city like Brighton, graffiti is as much a part of the cityscape as the pretend Victorian street furniture.

"Look at the best local artists, like Hutch, and it's also part of the city's creative economy.

"And it's local art. So take it away and you're another step towards being a clone town, the same as everywhere else in the country."

The city council has defended the proposed closure of The Level graffiti area, saying the idea of designated zones has been a failure.

But Sarah Leach, a graffiti officer for CityClean, said she remains keen to work with artists to find a solution.

She said: "Tagging in tolerated sites is the same tagging we see around town, so tolerated sites don't work.

"Graffiti isn't all bad. We need to get back to a stage where we don't have tolerated sites, and then start a dialogue. We need to build up trust.

"There will always be an element of people who graffiti who don't care what we do. They want to graffiti where they aren't allowed to.

"Our ideas will be a compromise, but things can change."

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