Reverse graffito/graffiti

[Hugo Hugo]

Earliest I found is in an April 2006 reply in Usenet's misc.legal to
someone owning a pressure washing business who used a stencil to
pressure wasd his company name and phone number in the street gutters.
The phrase was used many times, along with "Reverse Graffitied" and
"Reverse Taggers". The first:

A Complaint/Request that you REFRAIN from Engaging in "Reverse Graffiti"?

http://groups.google.com/group/misc.legal/browse_thread/thread/c2547e17451a7033/7d119e903e22a4c?q=%22reverse+graffiti%22

A bit later, the term was widely used by the media to describe the
work of graffiti artist Paul "Moose" Curtis. The earlierst I found is
this September 2006:

Soap Not Spray Can: Reverse Graffiti Art.
Paul Curtis aka Moose is no regular graffiti artist. In fact, he's the
reverse-graffiti artist.
He created his street art by *cleaning* the dirt and grime off of surfaces!

http://m.neatorama.com/2006/09/13/soap-not-spray-can-reverse-graffiti-art/

Curtis himself wasn't originally keen on the term. From December 2006:

The British artist Paul Curtis is not sure what to call his version of
vandalism. “People call it ‘reverse graffiti,’ ” he says, “but I
prefer something less sinister: ‘clean tagging’ or ‘grime writing.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10section3a.t-7.html?_r=0

Earlier stories about him, such as this July 2004 piece, use "clean
graffiti" and not "reverse graffiti".
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3379017

In fact, this 2012 article says he's been at it since 1999:

In his forties, the ‘clean artist’ began tracing patterns and slogans
onto dirtied surfaces in
1999 and has pioneered a ‘reverse-graffiti’ movement that now sees
street artists worldwide draw attention to pollution and urban grime
by
cutting through muck to inscribe imagery on sullied surfaces.

http://ikono.org/2012/04/graffiti-style-‘clean-art’-installation-unveiled-in-london/

Cheers,

Hugo

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