“Thirty years ago, I was a vandal,” says British street artist Ben Eine during his recent visit to Dubai. “Back then, what we were doing was vandalism– now it is a thought-out process. It is an art.”
From being arrested 20 times for painting walls and tunnels in London and tagging them with his street name Eine, to now being invited to add colour to street scenes around the world, the 45-year-old – whose real name is Ben Flynn – has had an action-packed career.
“I used to run away from the cops and now I stand and chat with them about my art,” he says. “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.”
This year, he decorated a 40-metre wall outside the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi with a playful typography that reads: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
Last week, he returned to the UAE to create a vertical mural at Jumeirah Beach Residence in Dubai. Resorting to his signature typeface, the Circus font, stretched out and shaded in with 40 different colours, Eine plastered the south wall of the stairs in Murjan cluster, adjacent to Rotana cafe, with the words “JBR Dubai”.
“In certain places around the world, street art is widely accepted and it is part of the urban environment,” he says. “So for me, as an artist, to travel to places like the UAE, where it isn’t as popular or where people don’t have an opportunity to see it as much –it’s what being an artist is about as far as I’m concerned.”
Eine says the blueprint for what goes on the wall starts with a doodle but, like any creative process, it is dynamic. “It changes depending on the surroundings and the kind of people who are going to view it,” says Eine, a self-taught artist who moved to the United States to pursue other avenues of visual arts.
“It also changes subconsciously when I am painting and once I become accustomed to the people and culture.”
Since the UAE is a relative newcomer to the street-art movement, Eine is treading carefully.
“I don’t want to upset people,” he says. “I want to open doors and pave the way for new artists to come over here and do the type of art I do, spreading a message with words and typography. That works well with UAE culture.”
Eine found himself in the spotlight for his legal street art when he turned the grey streets of East London into his canvas and spray- painted shop shutters with every letter in the alphabet.
His biggest claim to fame came in 2010 when British prime minister David Cameron presented his 21st Century City painting to US president Barack Obama during his first state visit to the White House.
Since then he has successfully held exhibitions internationally and has collaborated with luxury brands including Louis Vuitton.
Last year, he painted a 400-metre mural at London’s Olympic Park. His next project, a collaboration with Body Shop, will be unveiled next year.
“When I got into graffiti, it was the most-exciting art form and it changed the course of my life,” he says. At that time, his art mostly involved tagging trains and walls.
“And then after doing it for so many years I got bored and disillusioned. It hadn’t fulfilled the promises to me and it hadn’t changed the world.
“It was at this time that street art was beginning to gain momentum and it was changing the look and shape of cities. I’ve personally experienced it change the culture of cities such as San Francisco, LA and Miami. It extends more vibrancy and life.
“Street art, unlike graffiti, adds to the environment and is a positive experience for the artist and community,” he says.
“It contains a message that you want to relate to the people who are going to see it. Graffiti is just mindless tagging.”
aahmed@thenational.ae
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Date started: January 2017
Founder: Khaled Zaatarah
Based: Dubai and Los Angeles
Sector: Technology
Size: 21 employees
Funding: $7 million
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Weekend schedule for Austrian Grand Prix - all timings UAE
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Noon-1.30pm First practice
4-5.30pm Second practice
Saturday
1-2pm Final practice
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Sunday
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1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
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