London gallery aims to be conduit for new wave of street artists

The artworks at a new gallery in London's Shoreditch are not for sale, and their creator plans to destroy them when the show is over. The artist, known only by his pseudonym, Phlegm, did not attend the opening and does not give interviews.

Gallery owner Richard Howard-Griffin plans to pay the rent from sales at other shows. For now, he is providing the first ever gallery space to an artist who has won recognition in the underground art world and has many thousands of followers.

"Phlegm is immensely respected around the world," after more than a decade of painting enormous urban murals across Europe and the United States, Howard-Griffin says.

A new, mass audience has emerged for street art as the internet and smartphone cameras enable people to capture images and share them around the world.

Howard-Griffin calls it the "democratisation of art" and says he wants the gallery to act as a conduit for this new wave of artists, rather than an arbiter.

"In the past, museums were how Joe Public got to see artwork," and the artist depended on an elite audience of gallery owners and museum curators to win recognition, Howard-Griffin says. "Street art plays to a huge audience, but it doesn't have an elite audience."

Phlegm "doesn't care about money", says Howard-Griffin. He makes a modest living by selling a limited number of his prints and books directly to fans. He took six weeks to build his show, called "The Bestiary".