Graffiti vandal charged after Adelaide building tagged

An Adelaide graffiti vandal who spoke to Nine News in a bizarre interview has been busted by police.

The 35-year-old was filmed yesterday morning tagging a building on Pirie Street, next door to the Nine Adelaide Newsroom.

He was approached by reporter Jarrad Brevi and agreed to do an interview about his graffiti, which he describes as "art".

"It's an expression of art, it's an expression of their minds and it deletes just boring walls, you know what I mean... It's a little bit of eye candy I call it," said the man. 

He was asked how many walls he'd tag in a day and responded: "Maybe a couple or three, it just depends, it depends how much paint.

"I got to tell you the truth, Jarrad, sometimes I'm a bit budgeted."

The Adelaide City Council spends hundreds of thousands of dollars every year on graffiti removal but it's not something he's concerned about.

"Does it bother me? Well particularly it doesn't bother me.

"When I work I do pay my taxes and there are people that are paid to relieve the graffiti from the city or the walls or whatever, but I don't really think about it like that."

Police were called while the man was being filmed marking graffiti but he fled following the interview, before officers arrived.

Overnight, however, an eagle-eyed police officer operating CBD security cameras spotted the man tagging a wall in Rundle Mall.

The police patrol recognised the man from the Nine News story and he was arrested and charged with two counts of marking graffiti and possessing graffiti implements.

He was bailed and will appear in court in May.