What is the legality of “reverse grafitti”?

Question

I recently discovered several videos on YouTube talking about a new form of public art called Reverse Grafitti, the idea being that instead of adding paint to a wall, you form an image by selectively cleaning it. This creates a temporary form that will fade naturally within a short (few months) timeframe.

Here is a video demonstrating the idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut96pkYUOiM

Now I know that in most places, grafitti is illegal. However, here are my questions:

1. Is "Reverse Grafitti" considered Grafitti? and
2. Have any similar ideas been brought before a court? What was the result?

Answer 1

I don't know of any legal reason to care whether people consider reverse graffiti to be graffiti, since graffiti is not itself a legal concept. The act when done without permission is, however, trespassing, which is against the law. Painting a building is legal, if done with permission; painting a building in a pattern is legal, if done with permission. Strangely enough, cleaning a building without permission, whether entirely of selectively in a pattern, is illegal.

There are in fact specific laws about defacing property, so the illegality of the act does not rely solely on trespass laws. The NYC law is here, the California law is here, and there are many similar laws. In Washington, illegality arises from a more general prohibition against causing physical damage, which is defined here, and boils down to "costs money to fix". These laws are not limited to "applying opaque material to a surface".

Answer 2

From what the video shows, you'd still be vandalizing property. However, there may be different laws about it from city to city, so you might still be able to do reverse graffiti without being charged. If your state does NOT have any laws governing it, you might be better off just assuming that you shouldn't do it.

I don't believe any of these ideas were actually brought before a court, but it's sort of a given that the minute someone starts doing it, there WILL be a case.

This will depend on the state or city, but you may be able to ask your city council (if applicable) about it, but it most likely would only be legal on city property if a law were to get passed.