Quotes from Ben Eine

Whenever I go anywhere in the world to do a show I try to paint something in the street as well.

A lot of my paintings have quite negative meanings, but painted in a bright and cheerful way.

It's hard to live just by selling paintings.

Banksy's a very selfish, driven, paranoid artist. For good reasons.

I have never voted in any election - I usually have more important things to do, especially since I've had kids.

I don't get paid for what I do in public places. So I invest the money I earn in galleries back into doing the stuff I passionately want to do on the street.

When I started working at Pictures On Walls, I'd been hanging out with Banksy for a few years travelling around the world together painting stuff, and then we moved into a new office and wanted to do screenprinting.

Most people think I do street art, so I do everything for nothing. I'm an urchin who paints walls and does work for nothing. That's the first misconception about street artists, that we just paint for nothing.

When I first got into graffiti I thought it was going to change the world. But when, 20-years-later, it still hadn't, I got bored of the self-imposed rules.

I don't want to sell to street art collectors, I want to sell to art collectors.

I did long-term re-insurance claims. Asbestos, health hazards, pollution. It was very boring. But I've got quite a mathematical brain and it paid well.

I used to run away from the cops and now I stand and chat with them about my art. I'm older now and it is harder to run away from them. It would be embarrassing for an older man to get arrested by someone half your age. So I gave up running.

A friend of mine back in 1989 did an illegal rave in Vauxhall. He got Keith Haring to come along and tag the side of the wall. My friend cut it out of the wall and he kept it under his bed for 20 years. Then a few years ago he asks me if I want to buy it... so I spent £12,000 on a Keith Haring.

I'm always travelling and spend a lot of time in airports so I know what it feels like to get a personal welcome home. I wish I got more of them.

One of the advantages of not going to art school is that you're not taught what you can't do.

I started off tagging stuff - I'm not meant to be having tea and biscuits with the prime minister.

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.

The Prime Minister gave President Obama one of my artworks and suddenly my name was all over the news.

All too often, when people think about art in the U.K., they think London. There's some really great work being produced outside of the capital city and I think it is important to stop and acknowledge that.

I've a lot of respect for what people are doing here in Manchester, to promote the city's creativity and Aviva Investors Manchester Art Fair has played a big role in that. I'm glad to bring my work to the North West.

I got a message from Downing Street that my picture's hanging in the White House. Which is weird.

In certain places around the world, street art is widely accepted and it is part of the urban environment.

You can't be a punk all your life.

Whenever I get a job that's somewhere around America, I fly over my ex-wife and daughter and hang out with them.