British PM Brings the Funk With Graffiti Gift for Obama

LONDON (July 21) -- The White House is home to a museum's worth of fine art, including pieces by Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent and Norman Rockwell. Now a relatively unknown graffiti artist from south London looks set to join that illustrious collection, after British Prime Minister David Cameron presented one of his canvases to President Barack Obama during his Tuesday visit to Washington.

A spray-painted work by Ben Flynn, 39, who goes by the pseudonym Eine, may seem like an unusual choice of gift for the law-abiding leader of the free world. Click on Flynn's website, and you'll discover a section titled "Vandalism," which is filled with photos of illegally tagged subway trains and public buildings.

"I started out in the world of graffiti when I was about 14," Flynn told AOL News, "and kept on doing it for the next 20 years, painting streets and trains and generally being a nuisance."

Then seven years ago, after 15 arrests and seven prosecutions for vandalism and trespass, authorities warned Flynn that he'd go to jail if he was caught tagging again. "I couldn't face that," he says. "I have a wife and family."

The threat forced the father of three to put his considerable talents to a new, legitimate use, and he became a full-time artist working on canvas and, when local councils or companies commission him, street walls.

Flynn's brightly colored typographic works (Obama's gift features the phrase "Twenty First Century City" picked out in luminous hues) have turned him into something of a cult icon. His original paintings sell for up to $11,500, and his adventurous lettering secured him a stint working alongside famed British handbag designer Anya Hindmarch.

And it was Hindmarch who called the street artist last week and asked if he'd like to do one of his admirers a favor.

"Anya, who's a friend of Cameron's wife, Samantha, phoned me and said the prime minister was a fan of my work and wanted to give one of my paintings to the most powerful man in the world," Flynn says. "She wasn't allowed to mention Obama by name, so she just said, 'Think America.'" After a few moments of shocked silence, Flynn answered, "Absolutely. Sounds interesting."

Flynn says he wouldn't have handed over the painting (which he did for free) if he thought it would end up being tossed in a storeroom as soon as Cameron left the White House. "I wasn't prepared to give them something that wasn't going to be appreciated," he says.

But since Obama had used a stencil by Shepard Fairey (whom Flynn describes as "probably the most famous street artist after Banksy") on his now-famous "Hope" campaign poster, the artist felt confident that the president "would like what I do. He has the right idea about street art, and he's a bit younger and funkier than the last bunch of presidents."

Britain's prime minister wasn't the only leader handing out gifts Tuesday. Cameron received something considerably more valuable from Obama: a framed and signed lithograph by Ed Ruscha, the influential American pop artist whose paintings typically command huge sums. ("Someone did better out of that deal," Flynn jokes.) Three years ago, Ruscha's "Burning Gas Station" sold for more than $6.85 million at Christie's in New York.

Obama's generous present is a big improvement on the souvenir he handed the previous British prime minister, Gordon Brown, at their first meeting in Washington last year. The president was mauled in the media for giving Britain's then-leader a box set of 25 classic American films, none of which were compatible with U.K. DVD players. Brown had presented Obama with a more thoughtful offering: a penholder whittled from the wood of a Victorian slave ship.