[media-credit name=”Paola Gonzalez/Staff” align=”alignright” width=”231″][/media-credit]Painting on the wall is considered a glorious form of art in Egypt, Italy and Mexico, but can get a street artist in big trouble in the U.S. One person’s mural is another person’s vandalism.

Leonardo DaVinci painted on walls with his brush. Artists today use spray paint and markers as they explore the urban landscape looking for their next concrete canvas. Brilliant artists like Banksy sometimes leave multi-million dollar gifts on the sides of dreary buildings.

Artists of New York made their mark on subway trains in the 1980s, but they were hardly the first urban artists. Romans, Athenians and Persians had them beat by centuries. Prehistoric man had them beat by millennia as they drew on walls to tell stories and to preserve their history. Art precedes written language.

Art is subjective and many curators and agents act as if they are the ones who determine what is of artist value and what is not. Artists channel creativity from deep inside and share a gift with the world. It does not have to be limited to a canvas. Ask Michelangelo, who made the roof of the Sistine chapel his “canvas.”

At an early age children are taught to color inside the lines, whereas urban artists are thinking outside the lines and outside the box. Unfortunately, homeowners and business owners do not see it that way when they are recipients of an unsolicited commission on the sides of buildings, homes, fences and signposts.

Graffiti conjures images of flowing colors, block letters and images of gangsters “tagging” their turf to let other gangs know whose territory they are entering.

Graffiti artists are waiting for the day when society can separate their art from the vandalism of gang bangers. Spray cans and markers are the only things they have in common.

Graffiti that has no creative merit or artistic expression is merely the defacement of public property and a fair target of law enforcement. Up-and-coming urban artists who share this modern art with their community should not be treated like criminals.

Suburban and inner city law enforcements use taxpayer money to rid the streets of graffiti, but sometimes they also wipe out an urban Mona Lisa. Encinitas city fathers were far too eager to destroy the magnificent “Surfing Madonna” mosaic exhibited under a bridge near the beach. Calmer heads prevailed and the stunning piece will have a new home nearby.

Hotlines are available where “concerned citizens” can report graffiti they see on public property. Other concerned citizens should take action to support urban art and preserve it. Public property, after all, belongs to the public.