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I only 'borrowed' them, says teenager caught with Damien Hirst's £500,000 pencils
Ross Lydall4 Sep 2009
A teenage graffiti artist reignited a bizarre spat with Damien Hirst by "borrowing" a packet of pencils from his installation at Tate Britain.
The 17-year-old artist, known as Cartrain, was arrested after taking the pencils from Hirst's Pharmacy exhibit, which is based on his work at the former restaurant of the same name in Notting Hill.
Cartrain said he took the box of pencils in revenge for Hirst banning him last year from selling artwork based on his celebrated work For The Love Of God, a diamond-encrusted skull.
Cartrain's 49-year-old father was also arrested and bailed by the Met police on suspicion of harbouring stolen goods - a pack of Faber Castell Mongol 482 pencils.
Cartrain, who started doing graffiti in east London when he was 12, is waiting to see if he will be charged with damaging Hirst's artwork, which is valued at £10 million.
He has been told by police that the pencils have a nominal value of £500,000.
At the time of the incident in July, Cartrain, an admirer of street artist Banksy, believed his pilfering of the pencils was part of a harmless tit-for-tat exchange with Hirst.
Cartrain even created a fake "police appeal for assistance" poster, which he put up around London. It warned that the pencils had a "distinctive red eraser at one end" and were "missing presumed lost".
The artist, from Leytonstone, told the Independent: "I went to Tate Britain and by chance had a golden opportunity to borrow a packet of pencils from the Pharmacy exhibit.
"A few weeks later I went out and I returned home to find out the art and antiques squad from New Scotland Yard had called round with a warrant for my arrest."
A police source suspected the incident was "clearly a stunt to gain publicity".
The Met said that Cartrain's father was bailed to return to a police station on 14 September. Hirst's Pharmacy is no longer on public display.
The Tate said in a statement: "On Saturday 4 July 2009, a member of the public removed a box of pencils from the desk in Damien Hirst's installation Pharmacy. The matter is being investigated by the police."
Cartrain's work is most commonly seen around Brick Lane and Hackney, and often depicts political figures such as Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and George Bush. His biggest stunt to date involved sneaking a false exhibit into the British Museum.
He has said: "I consider my work artistic and creative, not mindless rubbish designed to annoy people."
Reader views (3)
Come on!
"On Saturday 4 July 2009, a member of the public removed a box of pencils from the desk in Damien Hirst's installation Pharmacy. The matter is being investigated by the police."
like OMG, felony !
I'm joking, but still, if a 17 years old kid can see that this show was just a stupid "ready made" assemblage of stuff, then so can we. Oh wait we can't because it's labelled "Tate".
- Marie, Paris, France, 22/11/2009 22:03
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Why do you type IGNORE HIM in caps. Sounds like you are threatened by him in some way.
I actually think this kid, although a simple graffiti artist in the shadows of Banksy, has more raw talent than Hirst.
- Dennis, PA, USA, 09/11/2009 15:34
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is there no end to these empty publicity stunts? this kid has zero discernable talent whatsoever yet is gaining visibility with this embarrassingly obvious attempt to associate with people who actually do something in the world.
IGNORE HIM
- Keith, london, 27/10/2009 01:41
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