Don Wettach and The Writing on the Wall: Graffiti as an art

Graffiti. Is it art or vandalism? The difference of opinion can be as close as two coats of paint, literally.

Traditionally, marking public or private property is considered vandalism, but as the Generation Y-ers grow restless and stigmas are replaced, a new phase of acceptance may have evolved.

Yet some still wonder whether this highly contested pop culture existence will have to be hidden from the general public. Artists hope graffiti and tagging, the name for images or lettering painted or sprayed into public buildings, will be considered a higher expression of art, a post-graffiti stage of street art?

An Outlet for Expression
Jon Hain, owner of Mother Fool’s Coffeehouse on Wily Street, believes that it can. Mother Fool’s Coffeehouse was granted permission by the city of Madison in 2001 to have a rotating wall with temporary graffiti art on the eastern side of their building. This piece is always temporary, as it is painted over monthly in the winter and weekly during the summer. (...) The wall at Mother Fool’s does not come without restrictions, though. Before the city approved the project, Hain, Don Wettach, a local artist, and the neighborhood alderperson, Judy Olson, worked out a criterion for the artists using the wall. It included no violent imagery, no profanity, no commercial messages and no sexist or racist imagery. (...)


[ Read on at the source: Daily Cardinal, Madison,WI ]