The ‘Not Art’ Stencil Project Is Meant to Inspire ‘Wonder’

 

 

Some people view it as a message that calls attention to bland, often ignored objects in plain public view, while others have said that it’s pointless tagging that merely defaces local property.

But it’s that conversation between two sides of the argument, and the confusion that leaves people wondering what it means, that the creator of the “Not Art” stencil wants to happen in order to make a human connection based around his project.

 

“It creates this dialogue and gets people thinking. I feel like I have built something that works. I didn’t know if it was going to work at first, but it works,” said the Somerville resident behind the stenciling, who asked to remain anonymous.

 

The “Not Art” tag can be seen in numerous places in the Boston area, including along stretches of Mass. Ave. near MIT campus, emblazoned on construction signs in Back Bay, and splashed prominently on the abandoned gas station marquees near Somerville’s McGrath Highway.

In each setting, the artist said he relied on turning temporary objects—those found at construction sites or decrepit, abandoned pieces of property battered by the weather and left to decay—into the centerpiece for each individual artwork.

 

“I do it on things like the backs of road signs. It’s not going to destroy the purpose of the sign—it just doesn’t affect anything; it’s a temporary object. I have found a loophole in that,” he said. “It’s a found object. I leave it there, and mark it there, drawing some attention to it. These are things that usually have a rusty, old, weathered look that to me is just naturally beautiful. I don’t know why. I just find that beautiful. Some people can definitely appreciate the kind of textures I like to point out.”

 

But not everybody, of course.

 

Like any outdoor scribbles or unsolicited paintings, the “Not Art” tag has dug under the skin of some people that happen upon it.

 

As more of the graffiti has cropped up around Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, arguments about whether or not this project defaces private property or merely brings life to bleak scenery, has exploded on Flickr, Reddit, and Instagram.

 

“Tagging in general is obnoxious. Sometimes, though, it’s redeemed by its artistic merit. This lacks that completely. Its ‘message’ might be clever enough for a high school art project, but in the real world, it’s just trite bullshit that’s fucking up the scenery,” one person argued on a long thread on Reddit, which picked apart the point of the concept.

 

The artist said it’s not about “pissing people off,” however. “Others might see it as a tag, and think of it as a tag. But it’s more about the surroundings that are near it that I want to draw attention to.”

 

And for some, that’s exactly what it has done.

 

Pedestrians who catch wind of the simple white or black lettering that marks the artist’s desired objects have noticed the irony of it all. “By pointing out the object that he claims is ‘not art,’ he makes it into art—his art,” one person said on the Reddit thread. “A simple form of irony is produced in which something is art only because it’s not art.”

 

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