{"id":183089,"date":"2025-08-28T20:51:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T20:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/183089\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T20:51:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T20:51:14","slug":"is-houstons-be-someone-art-or-graffiti-a-philosophical-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/183089\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Houston\u2019s \u2018Be Someone\u2019 art or Graffiti? A philosophical take"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON<\/strong> \u2013 It\u2019s hard to miss Houston\u2019s \u201cBe Someone<\/a>\u201d mural, but it didn\u2019t appear over I-45 until 2012, and since then, the big blue letters have become one of the city\u2019s most recognizable (and most tampered with<\/a>) sights.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: <\/b>Timeline of Houston\u2019s \u2018Be Someone\u2019 mural: From iconic street art to contested graffiti<\/a><\/p>\n

According to KPRC 2 viewers, via a poll, nearly 74% of Houston residents believe the \u201cBe Someone\u201d mural should be protected, while a little less than 20% view it as graffiti (a crime). <\/p>\n

With a criminal investigation by the Houston Police Department and Union Pacific underway<\/a>, its moral integrity has been brought into the spotlight. Art philosophy experts like retired University of Houston<\/a> professor Cynthia Freeland suggest the public sentiment is powerful, but the legal reality is harder to overcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a contested space,\u201d she said frankly. \u201cI think when you have things that people put in a contest in space, there\u2019s going to be disagreements about it, no matter how good it is…the owner of the space, I think, gets the say on what to do about it.\u201d <\/p>\n

MORE: <\/b>Police investigate group that repainted Houston\u2019s \u2018Be Someone\u2019 bridge over I-45<\/a><\/p>\n

Ownership of the space by Union Pacific, Dr. Freeland continued, ultimately outweighs questions of artistic merit, meaning the mural\u2019s fate will likely be decided not by its popularity, but by who controls the bridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get to the legal territory, and you have a lot of people writing briefs for the judges, the judges aren\u2019t necessarily going to be trained in art theory or art appreciation or art history,\u201d she explained. \u201cAnd so the judges are going to decide less on the grounds of artistic merit or popular appeal and more on the just simply on the grounds of ownership.”<\/p>\n

In her book, \u201cBut is it Art?: An Introduction to Art Theory,\u201d Dr. Freeland explains why innovation and controversy are so highly valued in art. However, the line gets sort of blurred when it comes to the \u201cBe Someone\u201d landmark. <\/p>\n

\u201cGraffiti is harder to defend it on the, on the charge of art, artiness, or artfulness,\u201d Dr. Freeland explained. \u201cI\u2019m trying to just react to the way things look, as not as a philosophy professor, but as an amateur, you know, murals, you think of the George Floyd murals and the other beautiful murals downtown that often have flowers or birds or something, and they\u2019re, they\u2019re more clearly artful and so it\u2019s a little easier to differentiate them from graffiti.\u201d <\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/b> \u2018Listen to the Artists\u2019: Houston\u2019s Graffiti Park demolished after years of grassroots art<\/a><\/p>\n

In other words, it\u2019s not like if Banksy made it, we could have a different opinion on the \u201cBe Someone\u201d piece, especially since it\u2019s not in a public space. <\/p>\n

\u201cGraffiti can be artfully done, of course, and lots of design to the way the letters look,\u201d she continued. \u201cYou\u2019re going to try to draw a distinction, which is very hard to do between graffiti and art on public spaces; murals would seem to me to have a stronger chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The iconic “BeSomeone” graffiti sign on the train trestle over I-45 southbound near downtown, was painted over with “George Floyd” in a light peach paint color, Saturday, June 6, 2020, in Houston. (Photo by Karen Warren\/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images) (\u00a9 2020 Houston Chronicle)<\/p>\n

So what does that mean going forward for \u201cBe Someone\u201d? Considering investigators say the work caused nearly $10,000 in damages, Dr. Freeland has reason to believe it may not stick around another 13 years. <\/p>\n

…Or will it? <\/p>\n

\u201cSounds to me as though it\u2019s gonna be painted over, it\u2019s going to be taken down, and then I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if someone comes along and redoes it,\u201d she admitted. \u201cThey\u2019ll just have to take that risk of, \u2018Are they gonna get arrested? Or hopefully not shot or anything,\u2019 and then they can take it to court, but I don\u2019t think law courts are the best place to define what good art is.\u201d <\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>\u2019Be Someone\u2019: Some of the many times that the iconic sign has been altered<\/a> <\/p>\n

Personal feelings aside, history has not exactly been on the \u201cartist\u2019s\u201d side. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn some cases of somebody had to prove that what they did was a mural rather than graffiti in order to have it maintained,\u201d Dr. Freeland noted. \u201cSome murals, even though they were loved and they were commissioned by the property owners, have been covered over (against the will of the artist and the community), and I think that\u2019s kind of interesting because it\u2019s just because of the ownership.\u201d <\/p>\n

In other words, just because enough people like it, doesn\u2019t mean people in power will let it be. And those who want to keep reviving \u201cBe Someone\u201d will be doing it at their own accord. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the people who get it probably will have to decide whether they\u2019re going to keep trying to do it despite the criminal threat,\u201d Dr. Freeland said. \u201cI find it odd because it\u2019s sort of it\u2019s so ambiguous what what does it really mean? And why do people like it? It seems kind of harmless to me. I don\u2019t see why people would mind it.” <\/p>\n

Perhaps 13 years has been a long enough run for it, but that\u2019s not really for us to decide. <\/p>\n

Start Here, Houston<\/p>\n

Before you “PRESS START” to your day, get ahead of the game with our morning newsletter.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 It\u2019s hard to miss Houston\u2019s \u201cBe Someone\u201d mural, but it didn\u2019t appear over I-45 until 2012,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":183090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[1037,86652,11890,102949,9979,3095,50135,4345,101939,35167,21842,358,3187,102950],"class_list":{"0":"post-183089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-be-someone","10":"tag-commentary","11":"tag-cynthia-freeland","12":"tag-downtown-houston","13":"tag-features","14":"tag-graffiti","15":"tag-houston","16":"tag-houston-landmarks","17":"tag-philosophy","18":"tag-street-art","19":"tag-texas","20":"tag-tx","21":"tag-union-pacific"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115108373071746947","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}