It was about a year ago when someone first covered Ann Arbor’s Graffiti Alley with “Farts,” repeatedly spray-painting the word hundreds of times over.

While it amused some alley visitors who couldn’t help but chuckle at the silliness of it, others saw it as defacing a beloved exhibit of street art and hurting the alley.

The phenomenon, unlike anything Graffiti Alley has seen in decades, continues to generate mixed reactions and online chatter, including one Reddit thread dubbing it “Farts Wars.”

Some say “Farts” is art, while others say it stinks.

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While the debate rages, the identity of the artist behind “Farts” remains somewhat of a mystery, but those who’ve met him say he’s a local, middle-aged dad named Ryan.

“I met him and I shook his hand because I was like, oh my gosh, you’re the famous farts guy,” Colin Spry, who considers himself Graffiti Alley’s unofficial tour guide, said of his first encounter with the “Farts” artist.

“He’s probably in his late 40s, he’s got salt-and-pepper hair and a shaved face, like a 5 o’clock shadow,” said Spry, who regularly hangs out in Graffiti Alley and tells visitors about the artwork.