Mook

Mook is the nom de plume of Michael Monack, a graffiti artist who was active in Pittsburgh in the early 2000s. The name means "knucklehead or idiot." Views of Mook's work Mook began as a traditional graffiti artist targeting the South Side and Shadyside neighborhoods, but after his initial initial works were removed, he began placing his tags in hard to reach places, including tall bridges and highway overpasses. He drew the ire of the then-Pittsburgh Mayor Thomas J. Murphy, Jr., who had tried to provide an outlet for graffiti artists by allowing them to spray paint walls along the Eliza Furnace trail. He even etched "Mook" onto a Department of Public Works "Graffiti Busters" truck that was tasked with cleaning up graffiti. At one point, merchants from the South Side, tired of having their businesses targeted, caught him and roughed him up, resulting in the tagging of "So you want to get tough?" to appear on the nearby Birmingham Bridge. He became known around the city and the media, but more for the audacity of the placement of his tags than the artistry. According to Pittsburgh officials, "He's going into areas no one's gone before."