Ben Eine

“You can't be a punk all your life.”

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

“The whole world is covered in graffiti. No one cares. It's just part of urban noise.”

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

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

“I'm a long way from being a Damien Hirst.”

“When I can, I enjoy working with local people to involve everyone in the community in changing their environment.”

“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.”

“It makes me really proud to be able to use my art to spread positive messages around the world.”

“It's hard to live just by selling paintings.”

“I was brought up in south London and I started out in the world of graffiti when I was about 14 because I wanted to be part of that hooded tracksuit gang thing.”

“I remember finding this book, which showed a New York subway train that had been covered in so much graffiti you couldn't recognise it was a train. I thought, 'I want to do that... how do you do that?'”

“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.”

“I respect Virgin Atlantic's brave and challenging attitude and the way it goes against the grain, so I jumped at the chance to be part of the first ever Gallery in the Air.”

“Painting on the ground was a cool challenge because you can't just stand back and see what you're doing.”

“An airplane cabin isn't the first place people think of when they choose an exhibition space, but I'm all for doing things differently.”

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

“David Cameron has given one of my paintings to President Obama. It's quite mad, really. But it's OK. It's not the kind of recognition I seek or get every day, but Cameron seems quite a positive kind of guy and Obama's a dude. I would probably have had issues if it had been for Bush.”

“The art that I do is for the people. It is about engaging a new audience who wouldn't necessarily go to art galleries and museums and painting on the street is the best way to do that.”

“I'm a luxury brand.”