Lots of people think that graffiti, street art and public art are ugly and/or bad (like the picture below). However, it can be beautiful. Graffiti was first created to express people’s feelings publicly, but soon turned into street art. In the 1920s and 1930s graffiti started to become common. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was really popular. It was mainly done by teenagers. At that point it was illegal, however later on in the 21 st century people like Banksy started to make it enjoyable to the public. Even though there are other people like him that break the law, the public likes it better. This was street art. Other forms of street art were made and graffiti developed into street art we see today. There are many differences between graffiti and street art. First all, graffiti can only be words but, street art can be anything. Also, graffiti is destructive and rebellious. While street art is meant to beautify the environment. Although street art and graffiti have differences, sometimes street art is taken as vandalism and taken down much like graffiti. Overall, I think that street art/public art is better than graffiti. They have similarities and differences, but I believe street art normally has a better meaning. High Line and West 14 th St.

Banksy, West 79 th St. and Broadway

Peck Slip and South Street

5 th Avenue and West 59 th St.

East 81 st St. and 3 rd Avenue

High Line and West 20 th St.

6 th Avenue and West 53 rd St.