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It's hard to live just by selling paintings.
Ben Eine -
The whole world is covered in graffiti. No one cares. It's just part of urban noise.
Ben Eine
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David Cameron has given one of my paintings to President Obama. It's quite mad, really. But it's OK. It's not the kind of recognition I seek or get every day, but Cameron seems quite a positive kind of guy and Obama's a dude. I would probably have had issues if it had been for Bush.
Ben Eine -
I respect Virgin Atlantic's brave and challenging attitude and the way it goes against the grain, so I jumped at the chance to be part of the first ever Gallery in the Air.
Ben Eine -
I painted the words "GREAT ADVENTURE" in Beijing, Dallas, San Francisco, Copenhagen, and Japan. What it means to me is completely different to everybody else. And that's what I love about random words and phrases taken out of context: everyone applies their own context. If you want to apply something political or meaningful to a word I wrote on the side of the wall, then it's up to you.
Ben Eine -
For me, it's mostly about having stuff on the street. You're walking down the street, you do it every day, and suddenly there's something that wasn't there yesterday: something bright and cheerful and different. It might stay there for a year; maybe it will disappear.
Ben Eine -
My friends were stealing cars and shoplifting. I was never into that but I was cheeky. I enjoyed making people laugh.
Ben Eine -
You can't be a punk all your life.
Ben Eine
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I'm not a massive artist by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, I've been in papers and magazines, but you never have any idea if anyone actually reads it or pays any attention.
Ben Eine -
I got a message from Downing Street that my picture's hanging in the White House. Which is weird.
Ben Eine -
In certain places around the world, street art is widely accepted and it is part of the urban environment.
Ben Eine -
When I can, I enjoy working with local people to involve everyone in the community in changing their environment.
Ben Eine -
Anyone can lose their home and find their life is turned upside down.
Ben Eine -
My philosophy through all my work, be it on canvas or on the street, is about pushing boundaries and not going with the flow because everyone else is doing something a certain way.
Ben Eine
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I did long-term re-insurance claims. Asbestos, health hazards, pollution. It was very boring. But I've got quite a mathematical brain and it paid well.
Ben Eine -
Whenever I go anywhere in the world to do a show I try to paint something in the street as well.
Ben Eine -
When I first got into graffiti I thought it was going to change the world. But when, 20-years-later, it still hadn't, I got bored of the self-imposed rules.
Ben Eine -
Graffiti writers will never stop. They'll just evolve. It's interesting what ideas people come up with and how it all extends forward.
Ben Eine -
I'm a luxury brand.
Ben Eine -
I haven't studied art and I haven't studied typography, but I've still gone out and done it.
Ben Eine
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I started off tagging stuff - I'm not meant to be having tea and biscuits with the prime minister.
Ben Eine -
When I started working at Pictures On Walls, I'd been hanging out with Banksy for a few years travelling around the world together painting stuff, and then we moved into a new office and wanted to do screenprinting.
Ben Eine -
An airplane cabin isn't the first place people think of when they choose an exhibition space, but I'm all for doing things differently.
Ben Eine -
Painting on the ground was a cool challenge because you can't just stand back and see what you're doing.
Ben Eine