Consider this a cruel yet hilarious game between a graffiti artist and cleaner. A little bit like tag, or maybe more like a good game of chess. Graffiti artist Mobstr tagged the same London wall over the course of one year in a curious experiment. He began back in July, and made his final contribution just a few months ago. Mobstr, who has undertaken similar projects before, explains how this started. “I cycled past this wall on the way to work for years,” he writes on his website. “I noticed that graffiti 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. Unlike other works, I was very uncertain as to what results it would yield. Below is what transpired over the course of a year.” The end results are brilliant! Take a look below as a graffiti artist pranks the city.
Here is the wall that he would ride his bike past every day.
The street artist started with writing “RED” on the wall.
Then he added a little more.
The wall cleaner did his job and covered it.
The street artist added “Red” back in a different place.
The cleaner, again, did his job.
The street artist came back again.
The cleaner was unfazed. By this time do you think he was annoyed or amused?
The street artist continues his rendition of red.
The cleaner continues his removal.
The street artist is moving up the wall nicely.
The street artist added a nice touch here.
The cleaner probably liked it but, doing his job, had to remove it.
The street artist stayed on track.
And so did the cleaner.
The street artist makes a bold move off the normal path. I love the question mark he left.
The cleaner handles it.
The street artist gets a little cheeky.
The street artist must wonder what happened here.
The graffiti artist just had to know.
The graffiti artist waited for an answer.
The cleaner came back with a paint job and not the expected pressure wash.
The street artist questioned the change and called out the cleaner.
The cleaner went to work with his pressure washer.
And this is what he did.
This is what the street artist came back with.
And then the street artist added a little to the other side. He’s pushing his luck isn’t he?
BOOM! The cleaner came back with a completely red wall.
The street artist gave credit to the cleaner.
I’d say that was a perfect way to end it and I hope it stays just like that.
Check out the video below of as this graffiti artist pranks the city.
I would have loved to be able to watch this unfold. It would be pretty entertaining to pass this by on the way to work or school waiting to see what happened next. Do you think after all was said and done the wall was left like this, or do you think the words were painted over with red? I hope they left it with the writing on it. It has a fun story behind it for people to tell.