Should graffiti be considered art?

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Should Graffiti be Considered Art?
For many years, there has been a spirited debate on whether graffiti is art or vandalism. Regardless of this ongoing debate, graffiti has continued to spread more and more. This street art covers subways, bridges, buildings, and the walls of freeways exposing the fantastic talents of those who make the attractive images. Such arts make the cities look beautiful by giving them character and unique appearances (Evans).  Now, this makes me ask myself, what do people consider as art while canceling graffiti? Graffiti should be a synonym for art; the only thing that differentiates the two is that graffiti artists do not have a painting brush and a canvas in front of them while painting whatever they imagine. For graffiti, the streets are their canvas, and the cans of spray are their brushes, and thus both are similar. Like regular artists, graffiti artists take their time and efforts to put up their work, which is at the exposure of everyone for free. Graffiti arts could also be taken to museums and be priced as highly, only that such arts are modern and keeping up with the current generation. Graffiti is art, the essay will expound on the point that art should be defined as a way through which people express their creative talents and opinions, and should not be illegal should be legalized.
First, graffiti contributes to the beauty of our environment. Walls colored with different colors with no specific pattern attractive to the eyes and more beautiful than ordinary walls. It feels lively to walk down a street with walls bearing graffiti, either in form or drawings or witty writings (Halsey & Young). Some graphics have direct meanings and one can interpret their meaning at a glance. However, some graphics are mysterious and are made for people to draw different meanings, depending on how they perceive them. In the end, people are left with questions such as, "What could this work mean? Who put it up here? What does it mean? Now that graffiti is illegal, did they do it at midnight?" As these questions ring in their mind, people become more attracted, and they cannot keep their eyes off the art (Hughes).  On the other side, it would feel boring if the same walls are plainly colored, and maybe the color has faded down the years. It is now high time that those in the position of legal authority should consider graffiti as art and legalize it, just like other forms of art.
Moreover, graffiti is used as a form of expression. Artists express their political, economic, and social thoughts and views through graffiti. When those in power intend to pass or pass laws that do not suit ordinary people's needs and the needs of the minority in society, artists express their anger through graffiti, and therefore they act as a voice for the voiceless. When the economic conditions become too harsh for the low and middle-class citizens, maybe due to loss of jobs and increase in prices of goods, artists air these concerns to the government through graffiti therefore acting as agents of activism (Evans). Artists take the responsibility to raise a concern about vices in society, for example, corruption and abuse of power and hence they carry t...