We’re not condoning vandalism in any way, but you have to admit that graffiti can sometimes be very, very funny. Such was the case with street artist Mobstr, who rode past the building below for years on their morning commute. Mobstr noticed that the city had a rather strange method of removing graffiti from the building: they would paint over it in one area with red paint, but power wash the rest of the exposed brick.
The building, which would apparently get tagged enough to warrant a system of graffiti removal.
This gave Mobstr something to think about, and eventually, an experiment was designed to see what this “Mysterious Frontier of Red,” as the project came to be known, was all about. “This prompted the start of an experiment. Unlike other works, I was very uncertain as to what results it would yield,” Mobster explains. “Below is what transpired over the course of a year.”
The city officials, now probably seething (if not laughing) were caught in action one day. It looks like the pressure washer is back.
Mobstr’s insistence, combined with the squiggle on the other side, seem to cause the city to reach something of a breaking point.
“You want red? FINE, you get red!”
We have to say, the red paint job is kind of an improvement over the worn-out brick.
(via Twisted Sifter)
We assume that the last message from Mobstr was also painted over in red, but the series ends here. It also goes to show how a little cheeky graffiti can actually get a shabby old building its own makeover, although that was probably just an unintended side effect.
You can see more of Mobstr’s street art online, including another series involving city officials, as well as on Instagram. You can also purchase art and apparel created by the artist.
