The Boundary Between Murals & Graffiti

Graffiti usually thrives in back alleys and on the outside of urban buildings, places where the law of the jungle is more prevalent than civil law.  

It’s a rough-and-tumble, in your face art form, that often shows little regard for the property it’s painted on, or the artist who painted it.  

All of the above photos were taken at the Citizen’s Corner Art Park located north of the train tracks, behind the county jail, just off Sheldon-McMurphy Street. 

Several installations in town explore the charged border between murals and graffiti.  The mural  above is located on the side of Delphina Clothing, 941 3rd Avenue in the Whiteaker neighborhood. 

I see murals as a form of art that are willing to risk walking on the wild side of life.  They are paintings prepared to go out on the street and meet the world on its own terms.  They don’t cower behind safety glass, inside of air-conditioned museums or in art galleries.  They risk accidents, vandalism, continuous attack by the elements and the harsh ravages of sunlight.   They also encounter and sometimes interact with graffiti, which is an art in its own right, just with a different set of rules.

Photo by B. Souza

Above is another example of a painting that rolls along the delicate edge between murals and graffiti.  This one is tucked into the back of Newman’s Fish Company, a great fish market located near the corner of 15th Avenue and Willamette Street.  It’s diagonally across from the Tibet mural.  As to the question of whether it’s a mural or graffiti, that’s best left up to the viewer.