Reverse Graffiti: The Future of Urban Art?

As I walked around our city center yesterday, I couldn't help but notice how much street art is appearing on our streets. There is a great mix of wheat pasting and stickering, some fantastic spray work, and some slightly more immature stencils, but whatever the form of art, there is more of it. And local councils are taking note.

There is an alternative however, British artist Paul 'Moose' Curtis is the pioneer of Reverse Graffiti (also known as grime writing,clean taggin or dust tagging) is a simple yet very effective solution.'Go Gently' was a piece Moose carried out in the grime and dirt of a Leeds tunnel. The stencil is applied to the wall and the reverse is cleaned using either a brush and soapy water (and some elbow grease) or for speed, a pressure washer. The resulting images appear as normal stencil or spray graffiti, yet it leaves no permanent marks.

There may seem like there is no down side to reverse graffiti, yet there is. Leeds City Council still class Moose's art as vandalism and as such, in 2004 he was hit with an ASBO (Anti Social Behaviour Order) with some confusion. The problem they have, is all Moose is doing, is selective cleaning, he's not permanently marking anything.

how likely are you to see some reverse graffiti? Well its not as uncommon as you think because a number of advertisers have realised there is market for this type of street advertising. A while back i remember walking through the center of a town and saw a piece of reverse graffiti on the pavement. It was so subtle I wouldn't be surprised if only 10% of people saw it. Its just such a shame it was an advert for male body spray.
This nature inspired stencil in central San Fransisco was completed at night with high powered pressure washers. The mural was a great commission for Moose as it had backing from the local Mayor and Police. Watch the video to see how this amazing artwork was created.

As fans of all things street art, WHoArtNow are currently looking into the possibilities of one off reverse graffiti Canvas Art. We are currently experimenting with removing inks and paints off canvas and metal to create the art. Expect to see updates on here and over at Frazier Boyd's site.