‘Artists’ don’t deface a national park with graffiti — vandals do

To the editor: Why would The Times refer to Andre Saraiva, who caused outrage after he uploaded an image of a boulder that he defaced in the Joshua Tree National Park, as a graffiti “artist”? (“A bon vivant artist who got death threats for spray painting a boulder in Joshua Tree has come clean,” July 9)

This man defaces both public and private property with no consideration as to the damage that he does and the expense that will be incurred by the property owner to repair this damage.

His own words within the article sum up his selfish attitude quite accurately: “If I want to do something, I do it. If I want to paint this rooftop, if I want to paint this train, or a place that’s very difficult to access, I’m going to go and paint it.”

Instead of referring to this guy as an artist, The Times should label him what he really is: a vandal.

Jeff Davine, West Hills

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To the editor: Graffiti “artist”? Really? Saraiva is a tagger.

Genuine artists respect nature. It’s our primary source of design, inspiration and color.

Many artists in their work have depicted endangered landscapes and have raised funds to help preserve them. Instead, Saraiva chose to deface nature while disrespecting one of our national parks.

Saraiva’s $275 fine was not nearly enough.

Karen Scott Browdy, Fillmore

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