In an art magazine Instagram post the editor complained about a lack of graffiti on walls as a sign of artists being gentrified.
Perhaps. Perhaps the art world has been entirely packaged and purchased. Maybe art was only briefly a transgressive modality and (with the help of this magazine) has returned to propping up transcendent naval gazing (religion or commerce).
Interestingly, this sentiment was pasted on a digital wall, where outrage amplifies more readily than sloganeering on physical barriers. The internet is a better modern tool, as is money to convert graffiti into a mural.
As well, to call artists "gentrified" for not vandalizing (bemoaining the loss of rebellion) undermines the succesful inclusivity work the artworld has done to grant all fringe practices space inside rather than out. The point of graffiti (for artists rather than taggers) has been rendered mute.
I will concede: Defacing the real world is becoming passé. Cluttering my feed with inane observations and advertising is the new trash that concerns me.