Graffiti atop City Hall East: Cool or uncool?

Graffiti artists made their mark on a giant slice of Atlanta history this week. City Hall East on Ponce de Leon Ave. — formerly the Sears, Roebuck & Co. Southern Regional Catalog Distribution Center — is an imposing presence, comprising 2 million square feet and 9 stories (click here to read Scott Henry's informative article about the space). Constructed in 1925, it's an old building, one of the Atlanta's largest, and, currently, the city is trying to unload it for much needed revenue.

While, you almost have to admire the lengths to which these taggers would go — or, rather, the heights to which they'd climb — to practice their art, we wonder whether it's wrong to deface (or, more politely, to embellish) one of Atlanta's historic buildings. Or is City Hall East's brick facade fair game for graffiti artists?

An opinion piece by CL arts columnist Cinque Hicks sparked an interesting dialogue about what is and isn't OK when it comes to public art on our blog Culture Surfing. There are certainly rules that apply in the street-art sphere, especially when it comes to showing respect to fellow artists. But the rules that dictate respectful behavior in terms of where taggers write become less easy to define.

So, what do you think? Did these graffiti artists go too far or just far enough?