Darren Cullen

For the artist, see Darren Cullen (artist).

Darren Cullen
300px Cullen in his London studio
Born	Darren James Cullen
Nationality	British
Known for	Graffiti, Public art, Stenciling
Website	graffitikings.co.uk/darren-cullen

Darren Cullen is a London-based professional graffiti artist who is commonly known by the tag name SER. Cullen emerged as an artist from the British graffiti art scene in the early 1980s.

Overview

Cullen grew up in Croydon where he became active in the graffiti and street art scene in 1983. His current graffiti name "Ser" was originally a crew name, which stood for "South East Rockers" – an unorganized crew name used by other graffiti artists in the south east area of London. When other graffiti artists stopped using the name "Ser", Cullen adopted the name as his own.

Cullen founded the graffiti art company Graffiti Kings based on Leake Street in London.

Cullen speaks to Rebecca Cafe from "BBC News" saying he's confused as to why the graffiti walls in East London are all of a sudden being cleaned. The walls in East London "the mecca of graffiti" have been there for years, but now the Olympics are upon us the authorities now want to clean the streets.

Cullen gives his view on why he thinks graffiti has become respectable in an interview with The Economist. Cullen goes on to say that graffiti has evolved due to many factors. Magazines & documentaries documenting good graffiti art & spray paint that's now made especially for graffiti, the paint now gives the artist more control over his artwork.

Artwork

In 2012 Cullen worked for the London 2012 Olympic Games, painting the stage sets for the opening ceremony.

Cullen created a Hyperrealist mural of Kate Middleton and royal baby on a wall at Brookland Lake, Snodland, Kent.

Cullen also donates pieces of artwork to non-profit organizations for underprivileged children.

Rockmount Infants School in Upper Norwood received a council community grant to commission Cullen & fellow artist Paul Barlow to paint two sea murals on the classroom walls.

Cullen has given credit to street artist Banksy saying "If it wasn't for Banksy, graffiti would still be about vandalism".

Community work

Cullen has admitted to engaging in vandalism and tagging while growing up in Croydon, but after later turning his work into a legal, commercial activity, Cullen was commissioned by Merton Council to run graffiti workshops for young people. The workshops aimed to reduce vandalism and to foster an understanding of graffiti art and its positive uses among at-risk youth in Croydon by offering opportunities for graffiti artists to practise their art legally on designated walls.

In 2000 Cullen worked with London Borough of Sutton to paint graffiti murals on 19 shop shutters to help reduce graffiti vandalism.

Val Shawcross from the GLA's anti-graffiti committee visited Cullen while he painted a 300-yard-long subway. Local youths from South Norwood London helped Cullen paint the mural, which was part of the Croydon Council Smarter Croydon initiative.

Cullen has received the backing of the British Government for his work to prevent graffiti on trains. Cullen has painted 15 train stations, the first being Wallington Train Station in Sutton south London. The Wallington project had more than fifty young people taking part and around 300 more arrived to watch the event.

External links

• Artist website