A sticker found on a trash can at a Washington, D.C., airport last week depicting what appeared to be a suicide bomber is actually the logo of a popular graffiti artist. His fans have plastered his stickers around the world since around 2005.

The sticker caused a bit of stir among Department of Homeland Security officials, who on Thursday began circulating a photo to other law enforcement agencies, government officials and corporate security companies seeking anyone who might have more information about the iconography.

"Attached is a photo taken of a sticker placed on a trash bin at Reagan National Airport," read the e-mail from DHS' Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. "ICE is circulating this photo to see if anyone knows anything about it. If you know of anyone who may be able to identify it, please forward."

The sticker depicts a man clad in black trench coat, pants and baseball cap with his arms outstretched and his face pointed toward the sky. Strapped to his chest are several canisters in what looks like a bomb.

But appearances are deceiving.

"Those are spray-paint cans on my chest, not bombs," says artist Rene Gagnon, who has used the self-portrait in his art work, and as a logo on his website, stickers and business cards, for nearly five years.

The image was originally part of a street piece Gagnon created, but has been featured in art shows in New York and Norway, as well. Gagnon says it's a play on several themes, including a common term used in the graffiti world since the 1970s to describe artists.

"'When you go out and 'bomb,' it's the idea of you going out and putting up your work," he says.

He thought about incorporating the image into his work during one period when suicide bombers were in the news.

"I had wanted to make an interpretation of me giving all of myself to my work," he says. "I wanted to convey that the cans were exploding color, and that's how my art was being created. One thing I do in my art work is explode cans of spray paint on my canvas."

He has four different versions of the sticker, some of which show color exploding out of the cans. He posts the stickers in streets whenever he travels and distributes them free to anyone who buys prints on his website. As a result, people have posted the stickers on streets in Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. People send him pictures of stickers they've seen in unusual places.

Gagnon says he's a little concerned that security authorities might get the wrong impression from the sticker they found at the airport.

"If you just take the time to look closely at it, you can see that it's spray-painting cans," he says. "I don’t want people flipping out now because of this sticker."

It wouldn't be the first time someone flipped out over the image.

He recently found out that someone who saw one of the stickers pasted at a Dunkin' Donuts restaurant in Fall River, Massachusetts, took a picture of it to the police.

"He said, 'I think the Dunkin' Donuts is going to get bombed,'" Gagnon recalls. "The cops were like, 'Are you out of your mind?' He didn't know that was my logo."

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a call for comment.