Street Artist’s “Experiment” With The Authorities Ends Hilariously After 1 Year
Street artist Mobstr tagged the same London wall over one year in a curious social experiment. He began on July 17th, 2014, and made his final graffiti tag contribution just a few months ago. Mobstr, who has undertaken similar street art projects before, explains how this cat-and-mouse game began:
“I cycled past this street of London on the way to work for years,” he writes on his website. “I noticed that graffiti stencil painted within the red area was ‘buffed’ with red paint. However, graffiti outside of the red area would be removed via pressure washing. This prompted the start of an experiment, or, if you like, an act of vandalism. Unlike other works, I was very uncertain as to what results it would yield. Below is what transpired over the course of a year.”
Google street-view shows part of the transformation.
More info: mobstr.org | Instagram (h/t: twistedsifter)
The wall:
The street artist:
The wall cleaner:
Street artist:
Cleaner:
Street artist:
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Street artist:
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Street artist:
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Street artist:
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Street artist:
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Street artist:
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Street artist:
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Street artist:
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He is a d**k. That government clean-up money is better spent elsewhere. And the original red paint probably was a local volunteer trying to keep the neighborhood clean. Public walls are your private canvas. D**k.
great idea and a sure sign that street art and graffiti are just a form of communication like everything. It allows us to see that the public area isnt real public... because of the pretended rules of so called properties...
I think someone needs to learn to count LOL - "started July 2014" - "over a year" - ended months ago??? How's that a year? Considering he wasn't the only one writing on the wall and it was all in fun - I see no problem.
Interesting- started July 2014 - "over a year" - ended a "few months ago". How's that even close to a year? Fun tho.
I think it's an example of 2 wonderful humans reacting together. Love this, they both rock!
You repeatedly damage property and call yourself an artist? You're a criminal.
Artist? I see no art. Only a person with a little too much time on their hands using it to say very little at all. Tedious and childish. If you want to actually protest, there are plenty of worthy causes in the world that could do with your energy.
The money spent on repeated spraying of this wall could have been better spent by a cash strapped council, so I'm not very impressed with this man's antics!
Now I don't know how economy works in Europe where, if I'm not mistaken, is where this happened, I'm an ignorant American after all. But you could make that claim on a variety of things. Where I live Spraypaint is a common thing to see on the fences and walls, even at elementary schools. The fact is that the people bothered to SPEND money on it. The spraypainter paid for the spraypaint and the cutouts for the words (unless he sprayed it all by hand which, in my opinion, would be rather impressive with my limited knowledge on the subject). Meanwhile, the government (or whoever pays for the wall cleaning which seems like an odd thing to have it's own area of expense for) bothered to pay the cleaners to clean it. They still got paid, so in a sense it helped them out (again it might not be a paid thing so correct me if I'm mistaken, but the point still stands). The point is, the fact that someone spent money to cover the spraypaint is pretty dumb when the person continues to come back.
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Is this a job creation project? It's funny but I consult for a city and I can see both sides. The resources could got towards education for disadvantaged kids or something. I'm getting old!
if they still had that same can of red paint, then i don't think they spent all that much... lol
Fun, yes, but unnecessarily expensive for a small town. I'm sure they have better things to spend City money on.
I wonder if the local tax payers, who had to pay for that wall to be repeatedly cleaned of the graffiti also think its awesome.
if they have any sense of humor, they probably did.
Load More Replies... He is a d**k. That government clean-up money is better spent elsewhere. And the original red paint probably was a local volunteer trying to keep the neighborhood clean. Public walls are your private canvas. D**k.
great idea and a sure sign that street art and graffiti are just a form of communication like everything. It allows us to see that the public area isnt real public... because of the pretended rules of so called properties...
I think someone needs to learn to count LOL - "started July 2014" - "over a year" - ended months ago??? How's that a year? Considering he wasn't the only one writing on the wall and it was all in fun - I see no problem.
Interesting- started July 2014 - "over a year" - ended a "few months ago". How's that even close to a year? Fun tho.
I think it's an example of 2 wonderful humans reacting together. Love this, they both rock!
You repeatedly damage property and call yourself an artist? You're a criminal.
Artist? I see no art. Only a person with a little too much time on their hands using it to say very little at all. Tedious and childish. If you want to actually protest, there are plenty of worthy causes in the world that could do with your energy.
The money spent on repeated spraying of this wall could have been better spent by a cash strapped council, so I'm not very impressed with this man's antics!
Now I don't know how economy works in Europe where, if I'm not mistaken, is where this happened, I'm an ignorant American after all. But you could make that claim on a variety of things. Where I live Spraypaint is a common thing to see on the fences and walls, even at elementary schools. The fact is that the people bothered to SPEND money on it. The spraypainter paid for the spraypaint and the cutouts for the words (unless he sprayed it all by hand which, in my opinion, would be rather impressive with my limited knowledge on the subject). Meanwhile, the government (or whoever pays for the wall cleaning which seems like an odd thing to have it's own area of expense for) bothered to pay the cleaners to clean it. They still got paid, so in a sense it helped them out (again it might not be a paid thing so correct me if I'm mistaken, but the point still stands). The point is, the fact that someone spent money to cover the spraypaint is pretty dumb when the person continues to come back.
Load More Replies... Is this a job creation project? It's funny but I consult for a city and I can see both sides. The resources could got towards education for disadvantaged kids or something. I'm getting old!
if they still had that same can of red paint, then i don't think they spent all that much... lol
Fun, yes, but unnecessarily expensive for a small town. I'm sure they have better things to spend City money on.
I wonder if the local tax payers, who had to pay for that wall to be repeatedly cleaned of the graffiti also think its awesome.
if they have any sense of humor, they probably did.
Load More Replies...
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