From NPR: "A British street artist known as Moose creates graffiti by cleaning dirt from sidewalks and tunnels."
There's something almost steganographic about the process--as though the visual language were already there, just concealed beneath the impasto of urban grime. Moose's reverse graffiti reminds me of Blake working his copper plate, "melting apparent surfaces away, and displaying the infinite which was hid" (Marriage of Heaven and Hell).
Posted by karik at July 15, 2004 1:26 PM | TrackBackAm in the UK for a trip and just saw a sign in the King's Cross Station with pictures of a couple of graffiti tags and the offer of a reward for the names of the artists. Though "artists" was not the word used. This guy you are describing would be performing a public service rather than "vandalism," wouldn't he? Though I don't imagine that is why he is doing it.
Apparently Moose was being pegged as a vandal by authorities until he started getting corporate sponsorship and media attention. Since then police have backed down--or so Moose suggested in the NPR story. But yes, many would argue he is performing a "public service"--in some ways he has more in common with the restorers of the Sistine Chapel ceiling than with his fellow graffiti artists!