Cartrain (born 1991), often stylised cartяain, is a British artist associated with the

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

urban art Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

movement. Artist

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United King ...

has threatened to take legal steps against Cartrain over his art and activities. Cartrain's art has been appropriated by artists

Gilbert and George Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943 in San Martin de Tor, Italy), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942 in Plymouth, United Kingdom), are two artists who work together as the collaborative art du ...

.Wroe, Nicolas
"gilbert-george-london-pictures-interview"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' 2 March 2012

Early life

Graffiti in Shoreditch, London - D7606 (12997436634)

Although little is known of his personal life, Cartrain's career supposedly began at the age of 12, beginning with a few small pen tags. In a later interview with a local journalist at the age of 15, Cartrain stated that the choice of his pseudonym was chosen at random, early on as he developed his style, and that despite early difficulties, he quickly began taking his work more seriously. The interview continues, quoting Cartrain:

I only did small pen tags. I started off doing small stencils of text, but I got hold of a copy of
ome Ome may refer to: Places * Ome (Bora Bora), a public island in the lagoon of Bora Bora * Ome, Lombardy, Italy, a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia * Ōme, Tokyo, a city in the Prefecture of Tokyo * Ome (crater), a crater on Mars Tran ...
computer graphics software, Photoshop, and my stencils have improved. It's very hard cutting out large stencils, as it takes a lot of time, and hurts your wrist.

From

Leytonstone Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, ...

, East London, he initially worked only in his local area, but "because no one pays any attention", had decided to move on by the age of 15, to the back streets near

Old Street Old Street is a street in inner north-east Central London that runs west to east from Goswell Road in Clerkenwell, in the London Borough of Islington, via St Luke's and Old Street Roundabout, to the crossroads where it meets Shoreditch Hi ...

and

Brick Lane Brick Lane ( Bengali: ব্রিক লেন) is a street in the East End of London, in the borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in Bethnal Green in the north, crosses the Bethnal Green Road before reaching the busies ...

in Hackney, in addition to central London, even spraying on walls opposite the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

.Trendall, Sam
"Graffiti artist, 15, follows in Banksy's footsteps"
,

Newsquest Newsquest Media Group Ltd. is the second largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom. It is owned by the American mass media holding company Gannett. It has 205 brands across the UK, publishing online and in print ...

, 21 May 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2009. His work often includes depictions of notable mainstream figures such as George Bush and

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, Queen of the UK. In April 2008

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

invited him to display his work at

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

Gilbert and George

In 2012 Cartrain created a series of collage artworks featuring images of

Gilbert & George Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943 in San Martin de Tor, Italy), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942 in Plymouth, United Kingdom), are two artists who work together as the collaborative art du ...

. These images were later reproduced by Gilbert & George and displayed at their 2014 exhibition "Scapegoating" at the

White Cube White Cube is a contemporary art gallery founded by Jay Jopling in London in 1993. The gallery has two branches in London: White Cube Mason's Yard in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London; White Cube Hong Kong, in Cent ...

gallery in London. In a 2012 interview George said to ''

'' "We are very proud of that".

Photography

Cartrain started photographing abandoned buildings in 2007. He has explored over 150 abandoned buildings since 2009, including

Millennium Mills The Millennium Mills is a derelict turn of the 20th century flour mill in West Silvertown on the south side of the Royal Victoria Dock, between the Thames Barrier and the ExCeL London exhibition centre alongside the newly built Britannia villa ...

Lots Road Power Station Lots Road Power Station is a disused coal and later oil-fired and later gas-fired power station on the River Thames at Lots Road in Chelsea, London in the south-west of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, which supplied electricity to t ...

St Mary's tube station St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road) was a station on the District and Metropolitan lines of the London Underground. It was located between Whitechapel and Aldgate East stations, in the East End of London. It was opened in 1884 on the Metropolitan a ...

and

Walthamstow Stadium Walthamstow Stadium was a greyhound racing track in the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London.BBC News - Walthamstow race track to close' It was regarded as the leading greyhound racing stadium in Britain following the closure of Whit ...

Interaction with Damien Hirst

In December 2008,

contacted the

Design and Artists Copyright Society The Design and Artists Copyright Society is a British private limited company. It is a rights management organisation which collects and distributes royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particul ...

(DACS) demanding action be taken over works containing images of his skull sculpture ''

For the Love of God ''For the Love of God'' is a sculpture by artist Damien Hirst produced in 2007. It consists of a platinum cast of an 18th-century human skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds, including a pear-shaped pink diamond located in the forehead tha ...

'' made by then 16-year-old Cartrain, and sold on the internet gallery 100artworks.com. On the advice of his gallery, Cartrain handed over the artworks to DACS and forfeited the £200 he had made; he said, "I met Christian Zimmermann rom DACSwho told me Hirst personally ordered action on the matter."Akbar, Arifa. (6 December 2008)
"Hirst demands share of artist's £65 copies"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', 6 December 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2008. A spokeswoman for Hirst said: "Damien is not suing Cartrain. This is a straightforward issue of copyright. Damien owns the copyright to the diamond skull and its image and if it is reproduced without his permission DACS are instructed to deal with this on his behalf."

Jimmy Cauty James Francis Cauty (born 19 December 1956), also known as Rockman Rock, is an English artist and musician, best known as one-half of the duo The KLF, co-founder of The Orb and as the man who burnt £1 million. He is married to artist and ...

has supported Cartrain, claiming he has a right to use existing images to make a new artwork. Copyright lawyer Paul Tackaberry compared the two images and said, "This is fairly non-contentious legally. Ask yourself, what portion of the original--and not just the quantity but also the quality--appears in the new work? If a 'substantial portion' of the 'original' appears in the new work, then that's all you need for copyright infringement... Quantitatively about 80% of the skull is in the second image."Preece, Robert. (June 2009)
'Reality check: When appropriation becomes copyright infringement'
''Sculpture'' magazine/''AD&P''. Retrieved 19 June 2009. In July 2009, Cartrain walked into

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in E ...

and removed a packet of Faber Castell 1990 Mongol 482 series pencils from Damien Hirst's installation, ''Pharmacy''. Cartrain then made a fake police "Wanted" poster, which was distributed around London, stating that the pencils had been stolen and that if anyone had any information they should call the police on the phone number advertised. Cartrain made this statement:

For the safe return of Damien Hirsts pencils I would like my artworks back that Dacs and Hirst took off me in November. Its icnot a large demand he can have his pencils back when I get my artwork back. Dacs are now not taking any notice of my emails and I have asked nicely more than five times to try and resolve this matter. Hirst has until the end of this month to resolve this or on 31 July the pencils will be sharpened. He has been warned."Cartrain Steals Damien Hirst's Art (Update)"
Clancco, 8 July 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2010.

Cartrain was subsequently arrested for £500,000 worth of theft and faced charges for what might have possibly been the biggest

art theft Art theft, sometimes called artnapping, is the stealing of paintings, sculptures, or other forms of visual art from galleries, museums or other public and private locations. Stolen art is often resold or used by criminals as collateral to ...

in British history. In December 2009 the Metropolitan Police dropped all charges against Cartrain. ''

'' wrote: "Cartrain told me that, happily, all police charges have since been dropped and that he's even had a meeting with the Tate to discuss the issue.What's more, he came face to face with Hirst himself at the latter's current show at London's White Cube gallery." Jonathan Jones, art critic of ''The Guardian'', has spoken out on Cartrain's behalf.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

*2010, ''Magic Trees'', Maverik Showroom, London *2013, ''This Way Up'', Graffik Gallery, London *2015, ''Not For Sale'',

Imitate Modern Imitate Modern is a London-based contemporary photography and art gallery that exhibits work by emerging artists. About Imitate Modern was launched in 2011, initially occupying a space in Marylebone, London. In 2015 it became a pop-up gallery, ...

, London

Group exhibitions

*2008, ''Urban Painting'', Atrion Centro Socio Culturale, Carugate, Italy *2010, ''Remasters'', The Rag Factory, London *2013, ''Christmas Wish List'', Imitate Modern, London *2014, ''Christmas Wish List'', Imitate Modern, London *2015, ''The Spring Collection'', Imitate Modern, London *2015, ''The Summer Edition'', Imitate Modern, London *2016, ''Rhythm, Imitate Modern'', Imitate Modern, London *2016, ''Moniker Art Fair'', Imitate Modern, London *2016, ''Kings and Queens'', Imitate Modern, London *2017, ''New Beginnings'', Imitate Modern, London *2017, ''The May Fair'', Imitate Modern, London *2017, ''Pop Portraits'', Imitate Modern, London *2017, ''Re:Creations'', Imitate Modern, London *2017, ''Moniker Art Fair'', Imitate Modern, London *2017, ''Christmas Show: The Return of the Pop'', Imitate Modern, London *2018, ''Escape From Brexitland'', Light Eye Mind, London *2019, The Old Bank Vault, London

Other activities

Cartrain has posted a video on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

, showing himself putting up a piece of cardboard box as a

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called inst ...

work in

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...

; he states, "I managed to put my cardboard box up in the Tate Modern for two hours without being spotted as a fake".Cartrain
"Cartrain Tate Museum ( Banksy style )"
Cartrain on

. Retrieved 20 September 2009. Another video shows him installing a collage incorporating Hirst's skull image, and titled "Damien Hirst", in the National Portrait Gallery.Cartrain
"Cartrain In The National Portrait Gallery"
Cartrain on

. Retrieved 20 September 2009.