Its that time of year again. For us northern westerners the rain (or snow) has stopped and we have begun to awake from dormancy, blossom in the sun and engage public spaces outside of our cavernous shelters. Short-shorts, tandem-bike rides and park beers aside, Gestalten’s new release, Urban Interventions Personal Projects in Public Spaces, lends us more inspiration to get outside.

“Evolving from graffiti and street art, urban interventions are the next generation of artwork to hit public space. Using any and all of the components that make up urban landscapes, these mostly spatial works bring art to the masses. They turn the street into a studio, laboratory, club, and gallery and challenge us to rediscover our environment and interact with it in new ways. This is the first book to document these very current, personal art projects in a comprehensive way. It shows the growing connections and interplay of this scene with art, architecture, performance, and installation as it turns public spaces into surprising and provoking individual experiences.” (www.gestalten.com)

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“Standing in one of the moss and dirt covered tunnels in Leeds, England, Paul Curtis, “Moose” as he calls himself, saw marks on the wall where the shoulders of unsteady drunks and the fingertips of curious children had exposed the shiny white tile. And with only a pair of socks as his tool, reverse graffiti was born.

No paint. No defacing. Moose makes his art by cleaning; removing the ills of dirt and pollution by de-defacing- wiping away dirt into large type and shapes, leaving nothing behind but a beautiful work of “green art.”

For the past ten years, Moose has been working to perfect his craft. More recently, his skill and notoriety have led to the creation of commissioned pieces as well.

Moose enjoys creating ‘legal graffiti’ although at times has been in the press for being a vandal. But no one has ever been able to make a case against him because as he says, “No one owns the dirt.” ”

Excerpt taken from The Reverse Grafitti Project