Bomb Art

Id like to start this post by saying bomb art is called bomb ART for a reason. It is not called bomb CRIME, so that in itself should explain why it should be considered an art form. But if you arent sold on that, heres some more convincing.

"Its remarkable growth also increasingly incorporates kids from outside the ethnic and economic framework of its orginators" (Ferrell 2204, p. 34)

Bomb art has evolved greatly since it was first created and is becoming more widely acknowledged and accepted throughout the world. It is used in different medias such as; films, music videos, television and fashion. Certain pieces of  work are even sold for thousands of dollars in art galleries, which is talked about in the Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture. The word 'pieces' derived from the word 'masterpiece'. No one would give anything such a title if it wasn't worthy of it. Bomb art can be considered similar to masterpieces from legendary artists such as Andy Warhol and Picasso. It is made up of creative artistic components to create stories through images. 

I was once driving in LA with a quite conservative family who I would assume would be one the type of people who consider graffiti a crime. This is how the story went...

We were driving along the freeway and passing through a tunnel where the walls were completely covered in bomb art. The child said to the mother, "woah cool mom! look at that", pointing to the piece. The mother then replied "wow, that is incredible", she taps her husband on the shoulder and says "look honey, I want some art work like that in our house". Chuckling to myself, I then replied to her "I didn't know you liked graffiti"! She then assured me that "this isn't graffiti, graffiti is for those gang people, this is a painting". 

This is a perfect example of why people think bomb art, and graffiti in general is a crime. It is because they don't understand it. Bomb art may look like those thousand dollar paintings that rich couples pick out to hang on the wall of their beautiful new homes, and ideally it can be, but it really is just plain old graffiti. The same type of graffiti that is being banned in most of the world. The same type of graffiti that artists are getting thrown in jail for. The same kind of graffiti that originated from ghetto areas in New York decades ago. THIS IS ART. "How is it that some people can tolerate thousands of flashy, obnoxious and jarring commercials that bombard us on a daily basis and yet are disturbed by graffiti?" (WebUrbanists, n.d.) Graffiti is not a crime. Bomb art is an addition to the beauty in the world. I think that people should be thanking graffiti artists for adding color and imagination to our lives rather then forming anti graffiti organizations who rip down their work. 

Here are some amazing bomb art murals for your viewing pleasure!