Valuing vandalism: graffiti
① The art form is as old as civilisation.
② Today, it is the medium of expressive contemporary artists who use the world not just as inspiration but as their canvas.
③ Yet although a work by Jean-Michel Basquiat earned $110.5m at auction last May, making marks with spray cans is still indelibly associated with vandalism.
④ Spray artists are usually unprotected by laws that safeguard creative work.
⑤ But this week an American federal judge used the Visual Artists Rights Act to compensate graffiti artists for the "willful" destruction of their work.
⑥ In 2013 5Pointz, an abandoned warehouse in Queens colloquially known as the "United Nations of Graffiti", was whitewashed and demolished to make way for flats.
⑦ The owner, who had initially welcomed the artists, must now pay 21 of them $6.75m.
⑧ Although the VARA has yet to be tested on work painted without the owner's permission (ie, most graffiti), spray-can masters welcome the recognition of their worth.
▍生词好句
vandalism /ˈvand(ə)lɪz(ə)m/: n. 破坏行为
graffiti /ɡrəˈfiːti/: n. 涂鸦
ghetto /ˈɡɛtəʊ/: n. 贫民窟
medium /ˈmiːdɪəm/: n. 媒介（复数：media）
canvas /ˈkanvəs/: n. 画布
auction /ˈɔːkʃ(ə)n/: n. 拍卖
indelibly /ɪnˈdɛlɪbli/: adv. 无法忘记地；不可避免地
safeguard /ˈseɪfɡɑːd/: vt. 保护
willful /ˈwɪlf(ə)l/: adj. 蓄意的
colloquially /kəˈləʊkwɪəli/: adv. 口头上地（colloquial /kəˈləʊkwɪəl/: adj.）
whitewash /ˈwʌɪtwɒʃ/: vt. 洗白；掩饰
demolish /dɪˈmɒlɪʃ/: vt. 拆除
make way (for):（为……）让道