Ben Eine
* born 1970
* lives and works in London, Great Britain
* graffiti, silk screens
In addition to his involvement as a street activist, British artist Ben Eine is active as a freelance artist as well as a silk-screen artist at Pictures on Walls. He therefore not only works on the streets of London in a quick, spontaneous, and unauthorized manner; he also dedicates his talent to elaborate prints, as is evident in his work Shutterfront, which is widely considered to be one of the most work-intensive prints of all time with its 77 colors individually printed by hand. And this wasn’t the only reason that Time Out Magazine designated him as one of the six most important street artists – it was mostly due to his style of lettering, brought to life with the sweep of his hand.
Likely counting among the most famous of his works in public space are, for example, the so-called Shutter Letters: individual letters that Ben Eine exclusively applies to roller shutters that are not visible until stores close for the night. To each shutter only one single letter is applied, thus inviting viewers to embark upon an expedition across town to collect letters for constructing words and sentences, thereby imbuing them with meaning. With his alphabet Ben Eine thus succeeds in turning urban space into a puzzle that – somehow, somewhere – harbors a solution for vigilant passersby.
