HOWZAT

When I was in Rome recently, I saw a beautiful 15th-century chapel, and some idiot had sprayed his name right across the front of it. Do you ever look at a bit of graffiti and think, “I wish they hadn’t done that”?

I’ve never tried to justify other graffiti writers. The spray can is a tool that can be used for good or ill. Just because you’re an author, that doesn’t mean you have to justify the collected works of Jeffrey Archer.

Personally, I always try to leave a wall looking better than I found it. I want to be karma-neutral. And if I do cause criminal damage, I’m careful to only damage property owned by idiots.

What is the difference between graffiti and vandalism?

Graffiti is only vandalism when it’s done very, very well.

I particularly enjoy it when you smuggle your own art into famous museums such as the Louvre and hang it next to the old masters. Where were you proudest to hang your work?

Some of the fake historical relics I’ve inserted among Bristol’s permanent collection should be entertaining — you can’t tell what’s truth and what’s fiction. It’ll be like walking through a real-life Wikipedia.

Blek le Rat told me that all street artists like to hang around after they’ve painted something and watch people looking at it. Do you do that?

Not unless I’ve painted the wall of a pub.

Okay, here’s the big one: why do you do what you do?

It started off so I would have a story to tell; then I worked it so hard, I had nothing to say.

These days, you are one of the richest, most famous and most successful artists in Britain. Does that make you feel good or bad?

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