They’re on the walkways and building walls all around campus. One may catch your eye on your way to class, but their meanings are often unclear. They’re stencil graffiti art pieces and they’re everywhere.

Stencil graffiti is a quick and easy way to make a statement. This has made it easy to proliferate it across campus.

An artist can create a stencil from any image, as certain online tutorials demonstrate. A copy of Photoshop, a printer, a utility knife and a can of spray paint can make an easy visual message.

“Most of the stencils I’ve seen around campus usually are making certain political statements or sparking a sense of mystery in the viewer,” said Matt Bender, former graffiti artist and an advertising junior at MSU. Examples of these include stencils of actors like Humphrey Bogart, former attorney general John Ashcroft with text reading “Ashcroft is watching you,” and chattering teeth with a tooth missing.

Part of the appeal of this graffiti is its anonymity. Banksy, one of the world’s most famous stencil graffiti artists, combines photocopy with earlier stencil work design to create satirical messages around the world. His identity has been a source of investigation in The New Yorker, The Evening Standard and the BBC. In the same way, those behind the graffiti on MSU’s campus wish to keep their identities hidden.

Sparty Secrets was unable to discover who is responsible for the graffiti. “I could point out a few that I recognize, but graffiti is generally supposed to remain anonymous,” said Bender.

While the meanings behind some graffiti are obvious, such as political messages, others are less apparent. In some cases, it seems they are simply art for the sake of art. “I guess sometimes art’s real worth is all in the eyes of the viewer,” said Bender. “Sometimes people ask me why I put this object, or that shape, or left that letter out in some of my artwork/graffiti. My answer in most cases is just ‘because I can’ because unlike many things in life, there aren’t any rules in art.”

If rules are meant to be broken, then it appears that’s what the graffiti artists are doing. Michigan State requires artists to get approval before adding their works to the campus.

“While artwork is encouraged, it needs to blend in with the overall campus park,” said Gerald Dobbs, Grounds Maintenance manager. He has noticed an increase over the past two years of graffiti on campus, especially directed at the statue of Sparty. Since July, he said the university has spent over $600 on cleaning the statue alone.

MSU Police do not consider it to be much of a problem, though. The department is not investigating the graffiti, unless the messages are threatening to any person or group, which makes them criminal, said Sgt. Florene Taylor, public information officer with the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety.

Given the ease with which the artists can tag MSU property, the identities of those behind it will likely remain hidden.