ARTIST
Ben Eine
United Kingdom
Ben Flynn, aka Ben Eine (*1970, London) is one of London’s most productive street artists, specializing in the central element of graffiti, the form and stylization of the letter. More than 30 years ago he began to leave his first tags and pieces in the London subway, which developed into a passion for graffiti. As a teenager he equated the book Subway Art by Martha Cooper and Herny Chalfant with the Bible.
His fascination for graffiti was immense, which led him to spray pieces on whole train cars. Unfortunately, he was caught and almost went to prison. Eine’s partnership with the, then emerging, London graffiti artist Banksy was hugely influential to the commercial success of both artists. In 2003 The pair set up the famous Pictures on Walls gallery, with a loose collective of other artists, in order to print and sell street art. Eine began painting huge, bright and colourful letters on shutters all over East London, creating beautiful forms executed with a relentless “graffiti mentality”
Ben Eine became internationally known when former English Prime Minister David Cameron gifted one of Eine’s works to President Obama on their first official state visit in 2010. Important enough, Eine was also included in the biggest exhibition of street art to date entitled Art in The Streets at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles that ran from April 17 until August 8, 2011. His work is now held in the permanent collections of the V&A Museum London, The Museum of Modern Art Los Angeles, San Francisco’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Berlin’s Urban Nation Street Art Museum, Los Angeles ‘Beyond The Streets’ and The Dean Collection as well as the private collection of Louis Vuitton and numerous other commercial institutions.
Eine’s painted shop shutters and murals can still be found all over the world. His distinctive letters continue to spell words and phrases across walls from London to LA, Florence to Tokyo. He continues to use street art to engage and surprise the public. In 2018 Eine unveiled the largest street art work in the world; the ‘CREATE’ mural – a 17500 square foot artwork painted on industrial ground in East London that is visible from space.
