Graffiti

The artworks pictured here are selections from a couple of walls of graffiti on Discovery Street here in downtown Victoria. Most of what is on the walls are what I think are called "tags" - text signatures so distorted as to be almost illegible, such as the one above. But here and there are representational works like those pictured below. I can understand the representational drawings below as "art" but "tags" leave me mystified. Artists traditionally sign their work but the signature is not considered to be artistic expression in itself. I suspect there is more to "tags" than a juvenile "Kilroy was here" ego statement or joy in calligraphy but I must confess to being suspicious of art that requires much intellectual support. Any ideas?