An Overview of Nouveau Graffiti

Graffiti is not your grandma’s tag anymore! Urban artists and interventionists are finding more and more ways to alter our environment without all the messy side effects!

Reverse Graffiti

“Reverse graffiti also known as clean tagging, dust tagging or grime writing, is a method of creating graffiti on walls or other surfaces by removing dirt from a surface. It is usually done by removing dirt/dust with the fingertip(s) from windows or other dirty surfaces, as in the old joke of writing “wash me” with one’s finger on a dirty car.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_graffiti

image via www.environmentalgraffiti.com

The Reverse Graffiti Project and artist Paul “Moose” Curtis create a poignant scene in SF. Watch the process in this short clip by director Doug Pray.

Moss Graffiti

I am particularly fond of this new method of beautification. An extension of the seed bomb artists are taking to the street armed with a blended recipe of moss and buttermilk. What results is living breathing art!

image via treehugger.com

Artist Ladybird. image via woostercollective.com

image via barbhoffman.com

L.A.S.E.R Tag & Projection Art

There is almost too much to cover here and it just about warrants a whole new post. To wet your whistle check out these sites and projects.

The work of Graffiti Research Labs is stretching street art to new heights and takes a serious approach to including innovative technologies into everyday life. One recent project is L.A.S.E.R tagging.

Here is a great video of the process and a variety of tags.

Check out the Muonics blog for L.A.S.E.R tag code – its open source!

Another one of my very favorite group of innovators is MAW (Minneapolis Art on Wheels). Call me hometown proud. Watch them on Make television.

And last but not least for those of you looking for an excuse to go to Florida this summer Alys Beach should be your destination of choice. The second annual Digital Graffiti Festival will be held on June 6th 2009.

image via digitalgraffiti.info