Dr. Dirt: Street artist scrubs images into the urban landscape

Dr. Dirt: Street artist scrubs images into the urban landscape: by Greg Hanscom

4 Nov 2011 3:24 PM

Photo: c/o MooseStreet artist Moose Benjamin Curtis was having some difficulty with the police. The officers had just arrested him for creating designs on a wall in South London. But it was complicated -- as things often are when Moose is involved.

You see, Moose doesn't use spray paint or wallpaper paste -- the usual tools of this trade. Instead, he wields scrub brushes, old socks, cleaning fluid, and, when he's living large, a high-pressure hose. He creates images by cleaning shapes into filthy urban surfaces such as retaining walls, signs, and tunnels.

People have called it "reverse graffiti," "clean graffiti," and "negative space." Moose prefers "grime writing." He has called himself "a professor of dirt."

He is not the only one working in this medium: Brazillian artist Alexandre Orion scrubbed a gallery of skulls onto the wall of a tunnel in Sao Paolo a few years back; street artist Banksy has also used the technique. But Moose is a pioneer -- and a bit of a character to boot. Read more.