A tagger/street artist going by the name Mar or Zamar, and mr_tentacool on Instagram, has been covering surfaces all over San Francisco and Oakland with an image of a squid, sometimes with a question mark next to it, and occasional other words like "Deep Sea Life" along with his signature.
As the Examiner reports, the Department of Public Works is starting to get nervous that they have another prolific serial artist on their hands in the vein of B.N.E., who vexed them back in 2006 and was never identified.
The DPW's spokesperson Rachel Gordon says they're well aware of the tag, which has been been popping up over the last several months on "the sidewalk, utility poles, mailboxes, construction trucks and sewer covers." He also once tagged a rusty harmonica. Zamar/Mar's first Instagram post was on April 21, and the account only has this, by way of description: "Z@/|\@R•/|\@R•T£@/|\~T£|\|T@€L£." Assuming you don't read password/symbol language, that says "Zamar - Mar - Team Tentacle."
Back in June, StreetArtSF took note of his presence, saying the tags were appearing "mostly in Hayes Valley and the Mission," but the Instagram shows plenty of other locations including the Tenderloin, Market Street, what looks like Fort Funston or Baker Beach, and Oakland.
He (assuming it's a he) has made various comments in response to followers like "found bucket of paint, don't hesitate" and "be in the park today." In response to one follower inviting him to go to "the hills" to see some "bunkers" he replied a few weeks ago that he was out of town. Also, he shot a photo at what appears to be the Lightning In a Bottle festival over Memorial Day Weekend in Monterey Countey, which was headlined by Moby and Phantogram, and he commented, "that was a great weekend, we all made it happen." Some festival goers apparently sported squid stickers on their clothes, and likely someone there knew who this artist is.
Anyway, enjoy the photos. He's probably not going away anytime soon.
