WORLD renowned Brisbane artist Anthony Lister has been arrested and charged with graffiti in his home city — by the very same government which introduced him to street art.

The 35-year-old, whose urban and street paintings have earned international acclaim, appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday on 12 charges of wilful damage dating back to 2009.

“I thought what I do is art. Apparently it’s a crime,’’ Lister said, after spending 10 hours in Brisbane Watchhouse.

He said he had been completely unaware of the charges. The artist, who was due to be filmed around the city by CNN America on Saturday, was picked up on an arrest warrant at Kangaroo Point early in the morning.

media_camera Street artist Anthony Lister with one of his murals at Broadway Shopping Centre, Sydney, in August.

“These charges were brought on by Brisbane City Council, who gave me the graffiti disease in the first place,’’ Lister said.

He was one of the first artists to paint Brisbane’s traffic signal boxes in a project launched by former Brisbane deputy mayor and artist David Hinchliffe in 2000.

“I painted the council boxes for free and three years later I was charging Main Roads $250 a box,’’ he said.

Lister, who has had solo exhibitions around the world and previously been named as one of Australia’s top collectable artists, said his Brisbane street murals had all been painted over.

media_camera The mural Anthony Lister was commissioned by Brisbane City Council to produce at Milton, which is being painted over. Pic: Jack Tran

Last year Brisbane City Council controversially painted over a large public artwork at Milton that Lister had been commissioned to work on.

Actor Hugh Jackman and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness own some of his art and he recently was commissioned to paint a Sydney wall for $10,000.

Lister, who is about to have a solo exhibition at a top London gallery, was bailed to reappear in court on November 19.

His lawyer Stewart Levitt said: “Preferring such charges, which Mr Lister has instructed my office to fully defend, highlights the disdain the Queensland Government has for the arts, which was publicly highlighted when the Premier cancelled the Premier’s literary awards .’’

Former councillor Hinchliffe said Lister was “an international art superstar’’ and his arrest on graffiti charges was a ‘’travesty’’.