Strook’s Reverse Moss Graffiti Mural Emerges from a Wall of the STUK Arts Centre In Belgium

A moss covered wall at the <a href="http://www.stuk.be/" target="_blank">STUK Arts Centre</a> in Leuven, Belgium became the canvas for graphic designer <a href="http://www.strook.eu/project/index.php?projectid=32" target="_blank">Stefaan De Croock (Strook)</a> when he took a power washer to create some <a href="http://inhabitat.com/reverse-graffiti/">reverse graffiti</a>. This super green street art is made by cleaning rather than adding on, and the Belgian artist pressure-washed his drawings into the wall. The powerful sprays of water removed the moss, and what was left behind was a wonderful mural of figures, doodles and geometric designs.

The Belgian artists was commissioned by <a href="http://deinvasie.be/pages/invasiedetail.php?invasie=21&amp;lang=nl" target="_blank">De Invasie</a> and STUK as part of a larger exhibition on sustainable living.

A wall along a staircase leading into the centre was covered with moss and rather than clean it all off, Strook used it as the backdrop for his latest work.

Detail of moss graffiti wall.

Using a hand-held pressure washer, he etched his designs into the moss and algae.

This is graphic art via cleaning - no chemicals, paint or cleaning agents were used at

Strook's designs were freehanded and most of them were created on the fly as he went.

Strook using the power washer to "clean" the wall.

The theme behind much of his work is where man meets machine and the reverse graffiti wall is a great example of how a machine helped him to create art.

The wall is covered with buildings, robots, and creatures.

As he describes his work on <a href="http://www.strook.eu/about/" target="_blank">his site</a>, “More and more, we are dictated by technology."

"That intrigues me. And so do the cities we live in. That’s why I populate my drawings with humanoids – robots with a human shape – and cyborgs – physical merges of man and machine.”