en Flynn (born 1970. London, England) a.k.a. Eine (the German word for “one”, the nom-de-aerosol he chose because it fitted a certain space on a Tube-train door) is one of London’s most prolific and original street artists, specializing in the central element of all graffiti in the form of letters with a distinctive style and a clear profile that sets them apart from all others. Eine shot to international fame in 2010 when British Prime Minister, David Cameron presented one of his works to President Obama as a gift on his first official state visit, but is arguably more famous for the giant letters and words that adorn his preferred canvas: the walls and shop shutters of many businesses. ‘Alphabet Street’, the shutters and murals he painted in his distinct typographic style in Middlesex Street, London, is described by The Times as “a street now internationally recognized as a living piece of art with direct links to The White House.”
Ben’s happy paintings humanize the environment, utilizing a vocabulary that everyone can relate to, thereby unifying the streetscape. “My work isn’t overtly political”, Eine explains, “although it is sometimes painted in places where I don’t have permission to paint, so that could be construed as a political statement. But there isn’t a message in what I write. I try to write positive, uplifting, happy, powerful things rather than Ban the Bomb’ or Smash the State’. I’m a bit too old for anarchy. If I was younger I might be more political but I’m married with kids and I’ve got a mortgage.” Eine’s art grew out of the rebellious 1980s graffiti movement and for the first 12 years of his adult life he was committing illegal acts by night while holding down an eminently respectable job at the insurers Lloyd’s of London by day. “But throughout this process I got arrested about 15 times, and prosecuted and fined six or seven times,” he says cheerfully. “The last time the fine was about four grand, plus 200 hours community service, which took me a year to work off. The next time the judge would have to send me to jail. I had a mortgage and was in a long-term relationship and I really didn’t want to go to prison for graffiti.” This was around 1995. Street art, which aimed to please onlookers and improve horrid urban environments, was just taking off, helped by the internet. Eine decided to devote himself to it, and develop the ideas about fonts and words and acrostics he’d touched on in graffiti.
At first he made ends meet by working in a bar and on building sites, then set up a company called Art on Walls to sell prints of his own work, and that of the famously elusive Banksy and the co-creator of Gorillaz, Jamie Hewlett; three years later he himself became a full-time artist, working and exhibiting together with Bansky for several years in Australia, Berlin, Vienna and Denmark where Gallery V1 held the Banksy vs. Eine show in 2003. Eine also collaborated with Banksy on the famous Palestinian Wall project. From single letters to wry statements, Eine has left his mark on shop front shutters and walls in cities including LA, San Francisco, Paris, Dublin, Tokyo, Stockholm and London as well as in museums and galleries around the world. Eine’s most recent solo show at White Walls gallery in San Francisco sold out prior to opening. He was also included in the biggest exhibition of street art to date, “Art in the Streets” at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Los Angeles. He was also invited by Amnesty International to design their 50th anniversary poster, joining artists such as Picasso and Miro.
http://einesigns.co.uk/
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