David Cameron presents Barack Obama with graffiti art

Source:  BBC News

A painting by a graffiti artist was among the official gifts to Barack Obama from David Cameron on his first trip to Washington as prime minister.

The work, Twenty First Century City, is by Ben Eine, said to be one of the PM’s wife Samantha’s favourite artists.

The 39-year-old artist recently sprayed the entire alphabet on shop shutters in a London street.

Mr Obama continued the art theme by presenting the Camerons with a signed lithograph by pop artist Ed Ruscha.

The piece, Column with Speed Lines, was chosen for its red, white and blue colours matching the British and American flags.

Writing on his website, Ben Eine said it had been a “weird day” because “David Cameron has given one of my paintings to President Obama in an art swap”.

The artist, who has worked with Banksy, began his career by “tagging” his name on buildings and trains around east London, examples of which are featured on his website under the heading “vandalism”.

In recent years he has been asked to decorate shutters in cities as far afield as Tokyo and New York.

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