Remüv Hate and Be Someone: Persistent Hopeful Graffiti Rebrands Houston

Last September, two enormously visible pieces of street art rebranded Houston as a more hopeful city, at least to users of the I-45 freeway through downtown, effectively everyone. Two phrases, sketchily painted along a prime, impressively inaccessible train bridge, command northbound drivers, leaving downtown, to “REMüV “hate!”" and southbound drivers to “BE SOMEONE.” Almost six months later, they’re still there.

Brittanie Shey, writing in the Houston Press, called the Remüv Hate! piece a candidate for the lamest tag in Houston, citing poor punctuation and excessive simplicity, but how much can you say on a train bridge passing at 67mph? There’s not much more we can all agree on. True, the pieces run counter to the prevailing darkness and egotism of street art, and are technically crude, but if the unusual combination of idiocy, ugliness, goodwill, and balls fits, wear it!