Reverse Graffiti

Over the past few months, we’ve picked up on several artists engaging in ‘reverse graffiti.’  Also known as ‘clean tagging’ or ‘grime writing,’ the artist simply cleans off the dirt and soot from a wall to make the original surface stand out.  This method has also been implemented on walls covered with paper flyers, where the intended word or image is scraped off.

British artist Paul Curtis has pushed this new style into the public eye and brings up a great point regarding the seemingly universal distain for street art:

Cleaning without a permit? “Once you do this,” he says, “you make people confront whether or not they like people cleaning walls or if they really have a problem with personal expression.”

New York Times: Reverse Graffiti