Not all fans of street art like graffiti. Not all illegal writing on the streets is graffiti and therein lies the possibility to embrace the humour in text based street art.
London was transfixed by the curious case of Nathan or Nathanial, or was it Natalie and the breaches of their confidential information as his/her/their health condition was publically disclosed in numerous locations across London for many years. Letters were published in the local newspapers, journalists went on wild goose chases trying to identify the perp (Vice, Time Out).
Nat’s unfortunate condition appears to either have been cured or maybe it proved fatal as updates are now rare if indeed non-existent. Gone, but not forgotten. A couple of weeks ago OMYDENO whose stock in trade is a sprayed font that mimics the letters produced by those Dymo label makers painted “Gnats have herpes” on a wall near Brick Lane, a very humorous phonetic pun referencing the old “Nat has herpes” tags.
Nat Has Herpes was not without a sense of obligation to graffiti history, this one large and notably shortlived “Nat” outside the former Foundry creative hotspot in Shoreditch contained an “age 69 1/2” reference to a marriage proposal by “Ralph age 79”, itself a product of the artist and graffiti writer known as Duncan age 49 1/2 and counting (slowly).
OMYDENO’s epidemiology sources may need some revising because if Google AI is to be believed gnats actually cant carry herpes, phew.
One of the intrepid journalists on a “track Nat” quest references seeing a modified form “Nat has heroes”, well here that one is and remember this predates covid, pre “clap for heroes”.
All photos: Dave Stuart
