CARTRAIN
Cartrain (born 1991, often stylised cartяain, is a British artist associated with the graffiti urban art movement.
Artist Damien Hirst has threatened to take legal steps against Cartrain over his art and activities. Cartrain's art has been appropriated by artists Gilbert and George.
From Leytonstone, 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 and Brick Lane in Hackney, in addition to central London, even spraying on walls opposite the Houses of Parliament.
His work often includes depictions of notable mainstream figures such as George Bush and Elizabeth II, Queen of the UK.
In April 2008 Boris Johnson invited him to display his work at City Hall.
In December 2008, Damien Hirst contacted the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) demanding action be taken overworks containing images of his skull sculpture For the Love of God 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 [from DACS] who told me Hirst personally ordered action on the matter."
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 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...
In July 2009, Cartrain walked into Tate Britain 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.[4] 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 [sic] not 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 was subsequently arrested for £500,000 worth of theft and faced charges for what might have possibly been the biggest art theft in British history.
In December 2009 the Metropolitan Police dropped all charges against Cartrain. The Independent 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.
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Everyday we are being desensitised by highly sophisticated psychological conditioning techniques, purposely designed by marketing executives intent on assaulting our self-esteem. Advertising is dependent on the principle of submission, by relentlessly bombarding us with propaganda that emotionally distorts our perception of adequacy we are taught to believe that they possess the remedy for our emotional suffering.
Contemporary civilization is so abnormally dysfunctional because our vulnerabilities are perpetually being exploited by a multitude of multinational corporations that glorify excessive self-indulgence and misdirect us into believing that salvation can be found in: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth.
Our society is run by lunatics, they are constantly devising scenarios that are exploitive of our misery in the name of entertainment.
Programs like the “X factor” deliberately misappropriate the concept of self actualisation, utilising it as a perverse type of fishing rod bait that’s cast deep into the most destitute corners of society, the producers of these shows purposely want to catch the most psychologically damaged people possible in-order to parade them in-front of an audience to be dehumanised and ridiculed for a cheap laugh.
We have been unconsciously indoctrinated into believing that inflicting misery on others is a noble and righteous endeavour in pursuance of our own gratification. These artworks are an attempt at decrypting the collective insanity ingrained in society and translating it into something acroamatic and meaningful. It’s a voyage into the psyche of fast-food workers that spit in customers food or those who trample others to death in the pursuit of securing half price George Foreman grills on Black Friday.
CARTRAIN
