Ben Eine Quotes

The parts of graffiti I like are really antagonizing still - it's not something that a museum would really embrace.

Graffiti's always been a temporary art form. You make your mark and then they scrub it off.

The best art is on the street.

Graffiti is only dangerous in the mind of three types of people; politicians, advertising executives and graffiti writers.

For me, graffiti writers were always the fascinating eccentrics of hip-hop culture. What they do is secretive by definition, and not remunerative in any way.

I started off as a graffiti artist in the South Bronx. My tag name was 'Loco' because I would go crazy and tag anywhere I wanted, in the weirdest places.

For me, graffiti means making marks on surfaces using just about anything, be it markers, spray, paint, chalk, lipstick, varnish, ink. Or it can be the result of scratches and incisions. The aim is to maintain the energy created by disturbance or excitement in the street.

Melbourne, where I grew up, is one of the street art capitals of the world. Something about discovering freshly painted walls always fills me with optimism; it's autonomous and democratic, and reminds me that maybe people are paying attention after all.

I'm a painter. I was a graffiti artist, and I painted all over the world.

In 2009, I began creating 'Waterworks' with the new vernacular coming from the 'Signs of Life' work in Las Vegas.

I want to be that guy that says I was one of the first guys to put a banner in Brooklyn.

I grew up around New York, graffiti culture.

The art that I do is for the people. It is about engaging a new audience who wouldn't necessarily go to art galleries and museums and painting on the street is the best way to do that.

Spraypainting a shop shutter turns an ugly, boring thing into something interesting and colourful. I think you'd have to be a pretty negative person to find fault in it.

Street artists want to add something to the environment. They consider the audience, whereas graffiti writers don't care about anyone except themselves, they do it purely for the kick.

Graffiti art brings you back to your human skills - your spirit and what your being is really about.

My work isn't overtly political, although it is sometimes painted in places where I don't have permission to paint, so that could be construed as a political statement.

I love to paint and beautify the most unexpected of places - I've painted everything from doorways to trains but have always wanted to do something really huge and different.

I was brought up in south London and I started out in the world of graffiti when I was about 14 because I wanted to be part of that hooded tracksuit gang thing.

Street art, unlike graffiti, adds to the environment and is a positive experience for the artist and community.

Stencils are good for two reasons; one - they're quick; two - they annoy idiots.

I didn't have much of a life in crime as a graffiti writer.

I don't have this obsessive need to do street art all the time because it's already opened doors for me.

Street artists need to get back to actually doing things on the streets instead of in the galleries where they all seem to be ending up. I hope this term 'street artist' falls from the face of the earth, in my honest opinion.

I have a company that does design and animation, so obviously graffiti is definitely an intricate part of what we admire and respect in the art world.