Street art trends come and go. First it was old fashioned spray paint, then stencils, then wheatpaste, then 3-D installs. We’re thinking Reverse Graffiti seems like it might be the next trend — a trend to undo all the others, making them seem boffish and lowbrow in comparison.
A huge reverse graffiti that just went up in Durban, South Africa by Neil Coppen and his team. Photo Credit: Wooster Collective
Also known as the Clean Graffiti movement, Reverse Graffiti is simply the removal of the city’s natural soot. Using white cloth towels or power-spraying through stencils, its pioneers can’t be arrested — it’s perfectly legal to clean off a wall.
So does that seem lame? We think it accomplishes what all graffiti artists seem to want to do: show everyone how beautiful the city could be, if we just paid attention a little more. And, of course, to leave their mark; If only until the next soot layer builds back up.
(See more images by Coppen’s team here.)
British artist Moose working in London. He's loosely known as the forerunner of this movement. Photo Credit: Wooster Collective
Alexandre Orion's skulls in a Sao Paolo tunnel. Photo Credit: Alexandre Orion
Brazil’s Alexandre Orion videotaped his work in a tunnel in Sao Paolo. (See more images on his site. )
British artist Moose explains why the movement started:
Moose cleans out a San Francisco tunnel and explains why:
Vienna’s artists use power sprayers on their city:
…And Vienna artists videotape the fact that Police can do nothing, legally, against Reverse Graffiti:
Ten Finnish artists make one huge project:
Artist Kah Rah Shin cleaned the image of his own grinning mug off Paris streets:
Kids in Paris go big:
