Reverse Graffiti

glawrie writes "UK Graffiti artist 'Moose' thought he had come up with a perfect socially friendly approach to his art - to trade paints for cleaning fluid. An article in the UK's Independent Newspaper describes how he has created graffiti by taking '... any dirty inner-city wall or pavement, place a template over it, and scrub the concrete clean, revealing an image as sharp as any spray paint which fades with time.' Moose was commissioned by a subsidiary of drinks manufacturer Diageo to create some 'clean' graffiti in Leeds to promote their vodka brand Smirnoff to local students. However, this work was subsequently condemned by Gerry Harper, a Leeds councillor, as 'sheer vandalism'. With wonderful irony, the council demanded that the artist 'clean-up' the graffiti that appeared in one of the city's gloomiest underpasses. Maybe all those senseless vandals out there will now think twice in future before scrawling 'Clean Me' on the back of vehicles overdue for a wash... But perhaps the state is now going too far - surely it is only a matter of time before rainfall is similarly targetted by the good guys."

Guess this...

Brings new meaning to "Clean up your act!"

His parents must be regretting that wording now.

Its so good

They can't show any pictures of it? Anybody have links?

Re:Its so good

Perhaps it's just the Brit jargon, but I just barely can understand what they're talking about in the article

What kind of Brit jargon exactly? I didn't read any in the article, unless it's use of "big" words such as indignant, municipality, unfathomable,volition and so on, confused you.

Re:Its so good

For "Brit Jargon" perhaps read "Correct English," colour, theatre, centre... You know, it's very difficult to understand :-)

Re:Its so good

Brit jargon? Isn't that called english?

Szo

Re:Its so good

Perhaps it's just the Brit jargon, but I just barely can understand what they're talking about in the article

Here, let me help:

clean: ('klEn).

Adjective. 1 a : free from dirt or pollution b : free from contamination or disease

legal grafitti..

In my town (Halifax, Canada) we have a few walls which are owned by local companies which have been 'donated' to local grafitti artists. You can go down there any time and see a lighted wall of absolutely amazing artwork, and it changes almost every day.

I don't see what the big problem is.. just give the artists enough places to paint and the problem will reduce if not disappear. What's the problem with that?

Political commentary at the Key Bridge in DC

There's a sign on the Virginia side of the Key Bridge that goes into Washington, DC that has become a cultural phenomenon of political commentary. Who knows what the sign was really for -- it probably announced that the bridge was the "Francis Scott Key Bridge" or something. Then after 9-11 it was spray-painted with something patriotic -- a flag I think. Then after people started realizing Bush was just using 9-11 as an excuse to advance an empire and limit civil liberties, the patriotic graffiti was grafitti'd over. IIRC, the oldest one shown at this Georgetown lawyer's website [niederhausen.net] was the first, "Read Orwell". After that, it went back and forth between pro-war and anti-war messages.

Oddly, authorities never cleaned it up. It's like it's become an unofficial but implicitly sanctioned public forum.

Re:Political commentary at the Key Bridge in DC

I was hoping you were talking about the "Surrender Dorothy" graffiti that used to be on a bridge over 495 as it looked out on the "Emerald City".

Re:Political commentary at the Key Bridge in DC

One can only wonder how many graffiti artists were lined up for the opening of the bridge to spraypaint "FP, bitches!!!111"

Re:Political commentary at the Key Bridge in DC

When I first looked at the first photo, there's a sign on the left that reads "Report Suspicious Activity".

I thought, "Oh neat, they're parodying the whole paranoia thing. It's neat how they made it look like LED lights, too."

Then I saw the sign you were talking about was on the right.

The "Report Suspicious Activity" sign is real.

Re:Political commentary at the Key Bridge in DC

Strange how the word Fundamentalist seems to be applied to those that dispense with the core doctrine of their faith, be it Islam or Christianity.

In my opinion the devil took Bush to the mountain top...and he said yes. 2000 years ago Christ rejected greed, power and dominion to serve humbly. Our president when asked says his only mistake in his adult life was trading Sammy Sosa. troll Sickening that no part of being a drunk driving, draft dodging, C student, womanizing, coke snorting, trust funded brat never registered in his memory in the ooops column./troll

Cut from the same cloth, Islamic Fundamentalists spew hate and perverse interpretations of Islam.

One can only hope that the voice of peace and tolerance will erode the powers of hate and fear that predominate today...it can happen...people just need to take a chance and unclench their fists.

A troll! ... I'll bite too!!!

The Fundamentalist Christian Fanatics being referred to are the 'Christian Reconstructivists', look them up on Google. These are 'Old Testament' loving folks that would bring 'Biblical Law' to a scary Taliban in the US level.

These Christian Reconstructionists do preach a Christian 'Take-over' of the world. They believe that they are at war with everyone that isn't with them. They believe that until they can build the Kingdom of God on Earth that there will be no second coming. They believe this, they preach this and they will do everything they can to obtain this.

As for this country being based on Bliblical Christianity, where is the Christian Bible and where is Jesus mentioned in the Constitution? ...the Bill of Rights? ...the Declaration of Independence? Oh that's right, neither is mentioned, just some stuff about a creator, which could be any religion that believes in a higher power.

Even being unable to locate all of that, what about the part stating that a religious test is NEVER to be applied for someone seeking or winning a public office? If this nation was truly a 'Christian based' or 'Bible based' society, then anyone and everyone seeking or holding public office would have to pass a religious test of some sort.

The 'Old Testament' does advocate that, in just about every portion referring to a war being waged. Have you ever read the 'Old Testament'? You should, it is a very scary book. It is filled with some of those most racist and scary nationalistic beliefs that you can possibly imagine. It has been used as justification for acts the world has seen far to many times.

"Love your neighbor as yourself"? Well, isn't that easier if your neighbor is exactly like you? Can't that be read as your neighbor must be just like you, since you love yourself enough to let Jesus into your heart, your neighbor better love themselves just as much, or else! That isn't 'Old Testament' and that isn't so much of a problem.

Re:A troll! ... I'll bite too!!!

Another sadly misguided perception of "fundamentalist christian fanaticism". If you would rely on the source of christian beliefs (the bible - not google) you would see that yes, the Old Testament is a scarry book. It starts at the beginning of time and follows the heritage, lineage, and imperfections of God's chosen people - the Jews.

The Old Testament is a historically accurate account of wars, kings, death, and life. It paints a portrait of a people who loved God, but could not adhere to His laws, and in need of a Messiah. Indeed, it would be frightful if anyone actually lived by the Old Testament, today. It calls for the sacrifice of animals as an atonement for sin - and the whole "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" thing.

Fortunately, we fundamental christian fanatics do not live by the old testament. We live by the new testament. You know, the part where God sends his son to earth to die for the foriveness of sins... At that point in history (yes, Jesus' existance is a historically verified fact) a relationship with God became available to everyone. The laws were reduced from the massive list of micromanaged rules from the Old Testament, to two commands - love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.

These are the beliefs that are founding fathers based the laws of this country on. They were not based on "any religion that believes in a higher power", they were based on the God of the bible. ...you insensitive Clod.

Re:legal grafitti..

Aye, we have several free walls here in Tallahassee, FL. I have a bunch of friends that paint, and it truly is art.

Unfortunately, most people equate graffiti with silly kids that scrawl basic tags all over the place. If you look at some of the bigger pieces(murals and such), you'll see it for the art that it is.

Vandalism = bad
Painting free walls = good

Re:legal grafitti..

To me - painting free walls is just 'doing a big painting - probably with spray cans'. Big Deal.

Tagging an illegible nickname on a wall beside a road is just. well. scrawling your name on something. Big Deal.

Dropping an image / word / phrase into a strange context which is thought provoking or even just plain funny is a much bigger deal to me. SImple silhouettes, slogans, even a simple 'cock and balls' can be beautiful if well placed. Be it on a blank wall, over someones 'grafiti art' or on the tits of the wonderbra chick.
I've seen a copy of one of Steve Bells [guardian.co.uk] cartoon from the Guardian sprayed on a railway siding on the SAME DAY it was published.

Grafiti is good - but blandomatic grafiti sucks.

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

There are two kinds of graffiti. I'll call the first one 'artcrime' since I'm not sure what other people call it. The second is tagging.

Artcrime is where someone makes an effort to do something that is interesting or beautiful, or at least puts some love into the work. It may or may not be a tag. If it isn't a tag, then the artist would be fine with using a designated wall like this.

Taggers, on the other hand, just like to put their name on shit for whatever reason - territory marking or some sort of rush that comes from vandalizing things. These folks are not going to bother with a designated wall because using one of those entirely defeats the purpose of the graffiti for them.

So I guess it's not a big problem if the only folks that bother you are the artists. Me, I'm the other way around - I normally don't mind graffiti that's had some love put into it because there was love put into it, whereas tagging is the equivalent of making it known you were somewhere by ejaculating all over the place.

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

I've been graffing (its an industry term) for the last 5 years. I never leave my name, so its not really a tag. However I feel that using a designated wall is useless. The point of Graffing to me, at least, is to subject (as infringe on others) the unwary to art. Putting a 3 foot Venus DeMilo on a wall in a grubby factory is a much more fufilling act than putting that same stencil on a wall thats designated for art. Two distinct demographics really.

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

Perhaps you should ask for more interesting places "designated" for art?

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

Nice sounding words, but unless you have permision by the owners, all you are doing is damaging the property of others. Using property you did not pay for. It's not art at all, it's just vandalism. It's roughly of the same morals as writing a computer virus.
It's possible to achieve shock and suprise in art through legitimate means. but what your doing is no different if I went to your home while you were gone and peeled out in your yard, t.p.ed your trees and broke your windows. I could claim it was performance art, but somehow I don't think you'd be any happier or less willing to press charges if I were caught.

Mycroft

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

Actually, I rate top-quality graffiti as better art than you'll often find in galleries.

Take Banksy (check the website at http://www.banksy.co.uk/ ) - total vandalistic anti-socialism but at the same time valid social commentary, truely genius artistic vision and inspired execution.

~Cederic is a fan.

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

Take Banksy

"Banksy" poored tins of coloured paint all over statues outside a lovely building near where I live here in Barcelona. The council have had to spend tens of thousands of tax payers (my!) euros to clean it up.

Inspired execution? Genius artistic vision? Give me a break. The guy is an antisocial wanker.

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

Damnit he's even got a photograph of it on his web site:

http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/vandalism.html

Note that the photo only shows a small part of this act of vandalism - the whole of the front of a building was vandalised.

The building was recently cleaned, and the council has put iron railings in front of it to prevent further acts of vandalism like this. Well done Banksy! You're so clever!

Wanker.

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

Perhaps you should ask for more interesting places "designated" for art?

Wouldn't that be like asking all the flashers to do their thing down at a nude beach? Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

You know, spammers use arguments a lot like that. Reaching out to unwilling audiences and all. Even committing crimes in order to do so.

Good company there.

Congrats.

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

Taggers, on the other hand, just like to put their name on shit for whatever reason - territory marking or some sort of rush that comes from vandalizing things.

The description you're looking for is "pissing on fireplugs." That's all it is. Taggers are bladder-challenged dogs with spray cans.

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

You're absolutely right that there are two types of graffiti. I live in Barcelona, Spain, a city that is know for it's graffiti.

Here the two types of graffiti are distinctly marked. I love the stuff that you're calling "artcrime" - some of the artists here are superb. And they are nearly always respectful - here it is very common to build temporary walls around building sites, and it is often these that the better artists use to create some create thier work.

Then there are the taggers. These anti-social little bastards spray on everything, usually just scrawling their tags and often just spraying to vandalise. There are lots of beautiful old buildings, fountains and statues here and there is a big effort at the moment to clean the city up. It makes me really mad when an old building has been carefully (and expensively) restored and some little antisocial w*nkers have sprayed their tags all over it.

One good thing - the cleanup teams here carry digital cameras and take photos of all the tags, so when they do finally catch the tossers they have enough evidence for a very serious penalty.

Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti

They did that here in the UK in my town. The next step was to get all the schools to give the police photocopies of every single schoolbook that has got any sort of doodles on it. Lo and behold, almost every kid under 18 who had done grafitti had tagged all their schoolbooks and the police were able to tie most tags down to kids by name, and either give them warnings or punishments. The best bit was most actually stopped and grafitti dropped by at least 70%

Re:legal grafitti..

we have something of the same here in toronto.
there are places which are known for their grafitti,
and i've seen the artists work right on the 'designated'
(if i can say that) buildings, frame and square it up nice
and leave the buildings beside them alone (like apartments).

there's a place that runs up behind queen street
which we call 'grafitti alley' -- it always gets the best work,
and there's a grafitti convention every summer, where the
best artists come and do their stuff. when the pope came
to visit, one of the people commisioned some of the
youngsters to do their garage door -- and they did
a nice job of guys playing basketball; another fellow
did an incredible memorial to martin luther king and
gandhi -- i see people going down there with cameras
taking pictures, some of them are so good, and they're
always changing. quite a number of the local restaurants
have commissioned local grafitti artists to do the signs
for their stores - hand painting, allows them to practice
their craft -- a lot of the grafitti artists are quite good,
if you give them a chance and a place to paint, why not
help them be their best? when they're supported by the
local community, these artists can also make a positive
contribution to the urban landscape.

best regards,
j [earthlink.net]

Re:legal grafitti..

Down here in Richmond Virginia, there is a coffee shop owner that has a wall facing a major intersection in Richmond. Seeing as how art is rather popular here (VCU being *the* art school around, with art galleries and museums too), grafitti and art in general is all around. It's on buildings, box cars, people draw it on drawing pads, whatever. Anywho, the shop owner got in touch with some artists and got an agreement that the artists can write over the whole wall, preferably more at the top where it's more visible for free if they keep their personal tag visible but not obtrusive. It's good to find out about people embracing a part of the culture like that.

Re:For me, Grafitti is to Art...

Art is evocative. The best is provocative. Consider that when making judgements on the works of others

** Keep Music Evil **

Re:For me, Grafitti is to Art...

And the most provocative art of all is created when a set of keys is your brush and a car door is the canvas.

Condemning graffiti isn't making an artistic judgment; it's standing up against the malicious defacement of public and private property.

Re:For me, Grafitti is to Art...

I agree completely. I'm 28 years old, and have been painting since I was 11 in Brisbane, Australia (pretty much my entire life). My memories of my teenage years are mostly of running from the cops, jumping trains and sneaking around with a bag full of cans. As my crew and I have got older, we've noticed that police/government are starting to realise that outdated graffiti control methods are not working to minimise damage done to public property, and the shift by Local Governments is now to provide exactly this type of outlet to it's youth. In fact our crew [aerograffix.com.au] has paved the way for the local kids in our area by getting together with Local Government and working out solutions that should make both parties happy, ie;

Giving the kids somewhere to put up, thereby lessening the amount of shitty tagging around the area

By providing workshops for the local youth to learn about and become a part of the four elements, (Graffiti, DJ'ing, Breakdancing, MC'ing), which then breeds respect for the culture and an affinity for your local area and crews.

It's been a pretty big success with the locals and the youth, every workshop we run is booked out almost straight away, and with local government helping with financial aid, we can offer these workshops for free.

And who knows, a grafitti artist may even become a productive and creative member of society, instead of a drone who got busted for tagging once too often.

We recently had an auction of artwork painted in the workshops over the last year and raised quite a lot of money, of which half we are using to plan more workshops, and the remainder we donated to a local charity dealing with drug affected teenagers. I think thats a pretty sweet contribution by a bunch of degenerate vandals :) I did like your joke, though. I'm currently employed full time in IT for the government, and it's an odd feeling to leave a managers meeting, go home, throw on your black hoodie and hit the streets for a couple of hours. If only my boss had any idea what I got up to...

P.S. If anyone has any qustions regarding the programs I'm more than happy to provide you with any info you like, just email me at the above or reply here.

Smart

That sounds like a really smart idea. The only problem I can see is that you're limited in choice of color. Many "professional" graffiti artists like to create very colorful works that help "brighten" the area. I still haven't figured out if I *like* professional graffiti, or if it even helps improve the area, but new options for those who do like it are always welcome.

Plenty of colors for the dirty deed.

The only problem I can see is that you're limited in choice of color.

Don't you know that the solvent comes with all sorts of tints these days? Citron, and various berry flavor Vodka is available. There's even pepper vodka. It might be more subtle than the average commercial "art" but the obliteration message will still come through.

I still haven't figured out if I *like* professional graffiti, or if it even helps improve the area ...

Could it be more despicable? Nothing says "slum" like billboards and graffiti. Don't be fooled, it's always degrading and insulting when people stick their message in your face. The difference between a "legitimate" billboard and someone marking their pissing grounds is mostly the means available. In this case, the advertiser is being cheap and hoping to gain some kind of hoodlum credibility. I don't want to live or work around people with that kind of attitude.

Re:Plenty of colors for the dirty deed.

There's a reasoning behind this practice that those outside the culture don't readily understand. An unspoken rule of bombing is that you do not paint over anyone else's graffiti unless you can do better (or want to start a fight). If a business pays a known, respected, talanted graff artist to paint a masterpiece on a wall, no two-bit tagger is going to spray over it, or they will be ostracised (if not targetted) by the local crews. It's a bit like having a lion piss in your yard to keep the cats away.

Re:Plenty of colors for the dirty deed.

Graffiti with negative paint (cleaning fluid) is still graffiti, is still done without the permission of the property owner, and the doer thereof should still be subject to the legal penalties for trespassing and vandalism.

I actually have something of a problem with this statement. To me, it's kind of like punishing someone for littering because they cleaned up some of the trash in an area, but not all of it, even though they didn't dump any of the trash in the first place.

Re:"Clean Me" on the back of cars

People really shouldn't be doing that anyway because it's very possible to scratch the finish on the car and do actual damage. Sure, it's not as bad as keying it, but it's still uncalled for.

I figured out the soultion to this a long time ago. Just don't wash your car. Ever. Not only can you not see the scratches or small dents, but after awhile it is much too dirty for anyone to want to touch it. Kind of like the soot on the back of a bus. You don't see anwone writing in that do you?

Stuff that matters?

Did he have a mobile phone in his back pocket when he did this? Am I missing the part that relates to nerds?

Re:Stuff that matters?

I thought it had something to do with "exploiting the system" of laws prohibiting grafitti, and was thus a form of hacking.

The city was being reasonable, not Smirnoff

Why does the article present this as some sort of travesty? It is what it is, and that is unlawful advertising on public space. To get rid of it would require public money to clean the rest of the overpass. It's graffiti, period. Why can't people just leave things alone, is it that hard to resist 'making your mark?'

I mean come on, is this for real? We're supposed to feel sorry for this guy and Smirnoff? Gimme a break, they crossed the line and should be responsible.