Street Art and Graffiti- Is there room for either?

I love living in a City, I’ve never been one for spending too long in the rambling fields of the countryside. I do have to admit though that the constant grey of apartment blocks and the cold glass exterior of modern developments do become dull. I think this is why graffiti and street art have always interested me; a vibrant and unpredictable splash of colour in a concrete jungle.
But through the eyes of some it is a gaudy mark on the grand buildings and ambiance of their home town. Individuals regarded by certain sections of society as budding street artists are chased down by police as vandals.

So is there are a difference between street art and graffiti, is it all distasteful vandalism?

UK street artist Ben Eine had his work resented to Barack Obama by Sam Cameron in 2010. Eine admitted on a C4 documentary that he had been arrested over 25 times in his youth for ‘tagging’ and spraying graffiti in streets. He then found hid stencil based letter trademark, questioned by those who still practice art on the streets and began spraying on canvas and selling his work. He has since painted large sections of London’s streets and has been passed by police without incident. So the transition can be made.

Two notorious feuding street artists, ‘Banksy’ and ‘King Robbo’ have both broken away from their graffiti crews to create solo exhibitions. But the long standing alterations of each other’s work, throughout the Camden area especially, is still ongoing. But work that was previously regarded as vandalism by many is now lining the walls of trending London galleries.
In Limerick the council offer a 24 hour removal of graffiti reported by the public or business owners as offensive or distasteful. However, more creative works are still show cased on the Dock Road and near Limerick city canal. I have a suspicion that if they were in more prominent areas they too would be removed.

In the UK is a piece is regarded as artistic and bringing notoriety to the area, the council will go out of their way to preserve the piece. In some cases plexi glass will be mounted over the piece and any attempts to deface the art will be removed.

Undoubtedly there are streets covered in idiotic and unattractive graffiti and numerous walls and arches informing us “Walshy waz ere” that cannot and should not be defended. However I think street art has a place in all cities, the UK have opened up and where the UK go Ireland is sure to follow…