Street artist: Stealing a Banksy is ridiculous - it’s meant for us all

Writing’s on the shop: Ben Eine is well known for his typographical work on shutters in east London
Rebecca Reid

Artist Ben Eine has criticised “ridiculous” people who steal street art works and sell them, because they are “supposed to be enjoyed by everyone”.

Eine, 46, a well-known London street artist, said keeping the pieces in situ was important because “no one goes to art museums”.

He spoke out days after thieves tried to prise the latest work by elusive artist Banksy from a shop wall opposite the French embassy in Knightsbridge.

The piece, which features the girl from the Les Miserables poster weeping in a cloud of gas, was created after French police used tear gas against residents of the “Jungle” refugee camp in Calais.

The work has since been covered up by the owners of the shop.

Eine, who is known for his typographical work on many shop fronts in east London, said: “I think it is ridiculous that street art is now being made a commodity and people are trying to take it down or cut it out of a wall and put it in museums or sell it.

“People are putting Banksy’s work up at auction for millions. That is not what street art is supposed to be. Nobody goes to art museums. Street art is supposed to be on the street and seen and enjoyed by everyone. When I first started 10 years ago, work would go up and then be taken down. That was part of it. Now stuff that I made 10 years ago is being protected by councils … That’s a bit mad. But it shows how important street art is in London.”

Eine also spoke about when David Cameron presented Barack Obama with his work Twenty First Century City at their first meeting in 2010. “People were like, ‘Overnight success’ and, ‘He’s the next Banksy’… I have known him for years. But I had been working for years by then,” he said.

Eine has collaborated with The Body Shop to repackage its hemp hand cream to feature the word CHANGE in his distinctive style. It will be launched on February 10, with £1.50 from each sale going to a charity nominated by the purchaser.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT