Graffiti artist Ben Westergreen sold postcards of his work at Folk on the Rocks over the weekend.

Daron Letts
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 20/05) - Ben Westergreen's graffiti has been noticed in the community before, but not in the arts section. He was caught spray-painting stuff as a teenager.

The 19-year-old University of Victoria engineering student chooses his canvases more carefully now.

"I like graffiti because it's bright, colourful and different," he says. "It jumps off the wall at you."

He paints on an 8' by 20' metal wall at his parents' Yellowknife home. When it's filled he covers it with primer and starts again.

Doesn't plan

"I don't plan my designs on paper," he said. "I just walk up to a wall and draw raw. Some people call it freestyle."

While studying in B.C., he competes in weekly online graffiti battles painted on computer with Photoshop CS. He also draws intricate wordplay on paper using professional markers ordered from Japan.

In Victoria, graffiti is recognized as an art form, he said. A public wall in the city is open for artists to tag.

A few years ago he approached the administration at Sir John Franklin high school to have a similar space opened up for youth in Yellowknife, but they rejected his idea.

"Graffiti space is so needed in Yellowknife," he said. "Youth need their art represented and a graffiti wall is a great way to do that."

This summer, a friend hired him to spray her name across her bedroom wall. It's Westergreen's first commissioned work.