Others have already stated the points I wanted to make but I'd like to add another one to the discussion. There is a double standard on graffiti in the real world. Why can a company put it's logo in huge print for everyone to see but every time a kid spray paints his comparatively small logo, he becomes a criminal? The reasons appear to be that one is paying the government money and making a profit while the other is not.
While I can see the point you're trying to make, the companies concerned have obtained permission to display their logo in that way from the owner of the medium in which they have chosen to display their logo; the kid hasn't.
There's an arguable point from an anarchist, I suppose, viewpoint about the tyrrany of property laws and concentration of resources, but that's not I'd suggest what most graffiti artists are trying to bring to the forefront with their work.
I think that it helps to look at the issue objectively rather than considering it from the perspective of the status quo. My point isn't so much that the kids don't have permission as much as it is that they won't get permission if they ask, or they are too afraid to ask out of fear of persecution. Looking at the planet from the eyes of an alien, it's clear that a small subset of the population have a monopoly on the visual appearance of our hives. It's also pretty obvious that the tribes in power consider production to be far more important than anything else, where even self-expression and art are turned into commodities. Which brings me to the point I was trying to make - that in your house you decorate it in a way that makes you feel good. In the shared public spaces, only those who have enough resources get to decorate the place, and almost always for the purpose of acquiring more resources. It never looks good, so the joy of the many is sacrificed for the profit of the few. We often forget that even though the building belongs to someone, the space surrounding it is still public, yet the fact is not respected.
Because it's my property, and I don't want some young kid tagging my property. However, if that same young kid sought permission, I might give it to him if the message of the resulting art would be something I'd support.
Well then the public space belongs to both of us, which means that you can't display certain things. For example, try hanging up a huge image of a naked woman on one of the sides of your house. It's your property but because of the effect it has on those who see it, the local council would take issue with your decoration. Why should we be subjected to psychological manipulation on a near constant basis?
