Graffiti has come a long way since its early associations with illegal scrawling on public property - and its development into a recognised art form is perfectly illustrated by the work of Black Country artist Mac 1. His astonishingly realistic portraits, created using aerosol paint, bear little resemblance to graffiti as we know it, but he did acquire his skills the unofficial way.

"I started messing around with graffiti in the 80s, when I was involved in the hip hop culture through breakdancing," explains the artist, whose name stems from a childhood interest in old American 'muscle' cars, particularly the Mac 1 Mustang. "In those days there were no legalised graffiti sites, so we used walls and outdoor spots where we knew we wouldn't be caught."

He says he always enjoyed drawing as a youngster, but was told at school that his style of art wouldn't get him anywhere. "I would have liked to go to art college, but I was put off by that attitude," he recalls. After leaving school he took a succession of factory jobs, before taking up graffiti again a few years later.

"I didn't want to stay as an illegal artist - I wanted to be more commercial and earn some money from it!" he says. "I already knew some other artists who were doing portraits with spray cans, and I had done some pencil portraits myself while I visited my mother in Spain, so aerosol portraits seemed like a logical next step."

Mac 1 began practising his technique on outdoor surfaces before moving on to canvases, which he sold first to friends and then to more and more people as his name became known. "Word of mouth is the best advertising you can get!" he claims, and it has certainly paid off for him, with his work on display in several galleries and having been featured on TV and in the press.

His monochrome paintings of film stars like Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant are perhaps his best known, capturing the glamour of Hollywood's golden age, though Mac 1 also takes on commissions for people wanting a portrait of a loved one. Readers may also recall seeing his portrait of the late George Best - this powerful study was created 'live' in front of visitors to Love Contemporary Art at Longbarn Village, Alcester Heath, where several examples of his work are displayed.

One of his more unusual clients was the Swiss ambassador, who bought one of his portraits after an exhibition at the embassy - this led to a pack of visiting Swiss businessmen noticing the piece and buying several for themselves! "It's a very diverse career," he chuckles. "One day you can be selling to Swiss businessmen, and the next you'll be painting a portrait of someone's gran!"

He adds that moving from street level to exhibiting and selling his work in art galleries was like starting all over again, especially since for many people the idea of graffiti has certain connotations.

However, graffiti has evolved over the years to become not only a valid art form but also an industry. Mac 1 says that aerosol paint is now made and sold specifically for graffiti artists, and that its sale and distribution is extremely competitive.

"There are 15 or 20 specialised nozzles available for the spray cans now, to create different effects," he continues. "It's very different from the 80s, when the technique for graffiti portraits was invented by an artist in LA - he customised cans by making holes in the lids to control how fast the paint came through!"

This control allows Mac 1 to create the fine detail in his portraits, which he calls 'liquid monochrome'. He adds that even in his early years, he always tried to make his graffiti lettering appear three-dimensional by using light and shade, so he was eventually able to adapt this skill to portraiture.

He is now experimenting with full colour, and considering doing a series of paintings of football heroes. A keen motorcyclist himself, he has worked on a number of projects with the Wolverhampton Hells Angels, and his first solo exhibition may be a series of paintings based around the members.

"I'm very lucky to be able to do what I love doing," he comments. "I hope younger graffiti artists will continue to get out of the traditional mindset and carry the techniques forward - graffiti still has a bit of a 'rebel' image, but there are so many ways to develop it as an art form."

www.mac1gallery.co.uk

Love Contemporary Art, Longbarn Village, Alcester Heath, Warwickshire.

01789 765 145