Design
The Art of Encouraging Graffiti
A new book explores how building owners and mural artists are working together to deter unwanted tagging.
“What people fear is not graffiti itself,” writes Patrick Verel, “but rather what it represents.”
That’s a line from Verel’s new book, Graffiti Murals: Exploring the Impacts of Street Art (Schiffer). Unlike many who have written about graffiti in the past, Verel doesn’t emphasize the aesthetics of the medium, although he takes it seriously as an art form. Instead, Verel focuses on the socioeconomic implications of graffiti—the way it affects the perception that building owners, local businesspeople, and residents have of a street and a neighborhood.