Eye Magazine

The summer of 2007 brightened up when Vandalism appeared suddenly, unsigned, in Holywell Lane. This is a quiet street near Hoxton, the trendy London district packed with designers, DJs, fly-posters, boutiques and bookshops. Scary appeared a few weeks later, opposite the Cargo nightclub in Rivington Street. Both are by Eine, the nom de guerre of 37-year-old Ben Flynn, who says he’s now too old, with too many responsibilities, ‘to pursue a criminal career as a graffiti artist.’ Flynn has a day job (in artist liaison and screenprinting) that allows him to fund the work, and he sells paintings via his website (Einesigns.co.uk) and exhibitions such as the recent show at Kemistry (see kemistrygallery.co.uk).

The letterforms are from an old specimen book of wood-cut printing fonts found in one of the Dover Bookshops. The hard black lines of Vandalism required more than 50 spraycans to finish the job. For Scary, Flynn and his assistant projected and traced the letters by night, painting (in red and white emulsion mixed with PVA) and spraying during the day.