Preserving Detroit

Urban art is a unique style of art that is mainly seen on the sidewalk or in the street. By making murals or complex wall designs, urban artists like to tell a story through the work they show on the streets. They are able to send a message through the images or texts they create. Some examples may have to do with the local area that they're placed or have political subject. Graffiti can be considered urban art in its rawest form. An example is British street artist, "Banksy", became relevant around the early 1990's. When he visited Detroit in 2010, he left a painting of a young boy holding a can of red paint, in the ruins of abandoned Packard Plant that next to the boy read, "I remember when this was all trees". Until, artists, Carl Goines and Monte Martinez, from Detroit nonprofit 555 Gallery excavated the artwork to preserve, and save it from possible destruction. They quickly moved the piece of work into storage, because a lot of people thought the gallery had ruined the painting by removing it from the plant. Eventually, the Packard Plant absentee owners argued that the Gallery had stolen their property by filing a lawsuit against them. The Gallery was able to fend off the lawsuit and the painting was later sold to a collector in Los Angeles. Although this brings up many questions like, who is the rightful owner of this artwork? This argument also emerged the big question, is graffiti considered art? It is also good to keep in mind how the law can play a role in this controversy.