In May of 2013, London-based artist Mobstr stenciled a wall alongside some existing graffiti in Hackney Wick that read: “No. of days graffiti remains.” He then tallied the results with hashmarks representing each day the word “Rats” endured. As it turns out, no one ever came to buff the work. It lasted over a year and was only removed from public view when the actual wall was dismantled for a development project.
“I didn’t predict it to end like that,” wrote Mobstr to ANIMAL by email. “I figured I’d either get caught, they would paint it out or I would run out of wall space.”
For him, it couldn’t have ended better, since this creative endeavor had the potential to turn this visual experiment into quite the time-consuming project. “The thing is the wall continues on for a very long stretch so I guesstimated if no one stopped the process I’d be going on a for about over a decade,” he said. “So I guess, for me, the wall coming down was the best possible outcome.”
But he wasn’t exactly done just yet. “After the demolition, I felt a void had been left of offbeat things, so I went a painted this opposite the location,” explained Mobstr.
(Images: Mobstr)
