It is an age old question ... What is art?  I certainly don't know.  In fact, I'm always taken aback when someone refers to my photography as art.  I do not think of my images as art.  

This post contains images I took on the streets of Italy that might or might not be art.  You get to choose.  I'm sure that many of you will brand them as graffiti, but they all had something in them that caused me to push the shutter button.

The first image ... Could it be more literal?  An image being drawn on the sidewalk. I saw several instances of this.

More typical were these kinds of images drawn on the doors ... roll up ones like this seemed to be preferred targets.

... though doors like this were not neglected.  This one seems like a kind of community bulletin board.  Is it ugly?  Does it offend your sensibilities?

This piece is  clearly making a statement about money, war, Christianity, and the fires of hell ... I think.

I think this could be thought of as graffiti.  It is a picture I took of a small "billboard" where many handbills had been pasted over time.  The image is one of my favorites from the trip.  You instantly know where it was taken and I love the colors and  lack of structure ... and, yes, I know I'm "weird"!

These next two images are more typical of "decorated" doors.

But this image is different.  At first, I smiled when I saw it but given the subsequent events in Paris and San Bernadino I wonder if its intent was much more malevolent forecast?

This set of stairs went from street level down to the banks of the river.  Art or not, a lot of work by many hands went into its creation.

I'm fairly certain this wouldn't be considered art but I couldn't help it ... the juxtaposition got to me!  I'm guessing someone came along and erased the restaurant's words and replaced them with the anti-war statement but left the last three words.  But, then again, maybe the writer really is against war and tourist menu's ... that would really be a very Italian point of view, and not outside the realm of possibilities.   :)

Art or not, I think these self-expression are interesting and perhaps is a clue to some of the views held by their creators.

Hey, don't forget to click on an image to see a larger version of it!

Bye for now,

Adam