COVER UP – Matthieu Martin

The removal of graffiti is as old as graffiti itself. Besides the real erasure of the paint from walls or trains a second and less complicated method is covering up the unwanted traces on the surface. For COVER UP the French artist Matthieu Martin collected great cases of the latter over years from 14 international cities.

In 60 photos solely examples are shown where covering up graffiti failed to restore the wall’s appearance due to a lack of matching paint. Martin captured messy clouds, accurate squares or semi-transparent patchworks in Baltimore, Berlin, Brussels, Caen, Charenton-le-Pont, Ivry-sur-Seine, Milan, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Rouen, Saint Petersburg, Toronto and Washington.

The 80-paged softcover compilation presents entertaining compositions and beautiful patterns that may have more artistic tendencies as the simple namewriting traces which they are covering. Art historian and author of La Peinture monochrome (monochrome painting) Denys Riout added an essay to the booklet from 2015.