Reverse Graffiti, sometimes known as "grime-writing," involves erasing away the soot, dirt, and pollution on a surface to create an image in the negative. Artist Moose Curtis and Fotorater founder Marc Cameron teamed up on commission from the Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin and set four eco-cars in reverse on the walls of Munich.
Using a wood stencil, the artists blasted these concrete walls with high-pressure water to leave the images of a BMW i3, a Renault Twizy, a Nissan Leaf (not pictured), and a Tesla Roadster remaining, a picture painted in pollution.
Moose Curtis explains the art form as a way to show people how dirty the world is, as the layers of caked-on pollutants peel away and show just how much dirt there is.
Marc Cameron, the project manager, thought to bring together reverse graffiti with his and Mark Brown's light graffiti cars, another car-focused public art piece. With the SZ Magazin, the magazine section of one of Germany's leading newspapers, these reverse graffiti cars work with the symbolism of automobiles as polluting and destructive.
The four cars show the forward-looking greening of the car industry as well as the pollution of the current automotive-oriented world. Marc Cameron adds, "And, similar to the BMW Art Car project and Light Graffiti Cars, the Reverse Graffiti Cars project proves that motoring and the arts are an incredibly powerful combination."
Just to hammer the artsy point home, many of the pictures you see of these cars were shot with a lomograhy camera.
Take a longer look at these fantastic works and watch them get made, too.
Photo Credits: Marc Cameron and Rafael Kroetz