Bring the Paint has returned to Leicester for 2024. The popular event, organised by Leicester’s Graff HQ showcases the best of graffiti and street art culture. Held three times previously in 2017, 2019 and 2022 it has already resulted in a number of impressive pieces which can be found across the city.
For 2024’s Bring the Paint a variety of returning and new artists have been added to Leicester’s walls. Centred across a number of key locations, all are walkable within the city. A celebration of urban art, it is the only mainstream UK festival that has graffiti at it’s core. The resulting works revealing the diversity at heart within the sub-culture.
Murals of Bring the Paint 2024
Painting locations from the 2024 Bring the Paint festival were all around the city. From Frog Island in the north to locations throughout the centre. Once again a core area involved the cultural quarter and the area around the LCB Depot. Additional spots included the taking over of an abandoned Matalan on Church Gate and a car dealership on Northgate Street. Partnerships with the Highcross Shopping Centre and the Haymarket Theatre and Bus Station also meant that major works were placed in the heart of the city.
City Centre
The area surrounding the Haymarket Shopping Centre and the Clock Tower. Locations around here include the Haymarket itself along with clusters of pieces created in nearby streets. The Highcross Shopping Centre providing a number of spaces along with the Old Matalan Site on Church Gate and on New Bond Street.
Haymarket Bus Station Entrance
Mr Cenz
In previous years of Bring the Paint, this idea of placing public art at the entrances to the city has been an important factor in choosing where they should go. After all what better way to greet people than with high quality public art. The bus station follows the same principle and the work here by Mr Cenz cannot be missed. An artist known for his freestyle flow of portraiture and abstract. He has painted a child in a pair of glasses appearing as if in childlike wonder. It sits right next to the main entrance to the station. According to Mr Cenz “In these tough times it’s important to keep the childlike wonder of the world alive”.
Haymarket Theatre Steps
Church of Bestever
A duo from South London via the South Coast. The Church of Best Ever combine realism with painterly techniques taking inspiration from the likes of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Their work will often tell a story. For this piece they have created a stylised piece inspired by the death of Romeo and Julie. High along the steps to the Haymarket Theatre it has become an immediate landmark.
High Street, Highcross Centre – Multiple Artists
On the High Street right in the centre of the city. Multiple artists painted the side walls of the Highcross Shopping Centre. The location, a vibrant thoroughfare meaning that locals were able to see the artists up close. With everything at ground level it also gave an opportunity to interact and speak to the artists as they were painting live.
N4T4 x Philth
Often painting together as part of the ‘Never Ready’ crew. Artists Philth and N4T4 are artists from Nuneaton whose styles often blend in with each other. Philth has become known for his William Morris inspired patterns whilst N4T4 for his portraits and unique mark making. Their work at Bring the Paint 2024 bringing the two together.
Inkie
Legendary Bristol writer Inkie is a regular visitor to Leicester having painted a number of times at Bring the Paint. His piece a wild style blending of letters with references to some of his long standing characters in the background.
Kino Bino
Leicester design studio ‘Kino Bino‘ are known for their animations and cartoon characters. Also regulars at Bring the Paint, they have painted every year since the first iteration in 2017.
Lucy Danielle
An artist from Bristol, Lucy Danielle is know for her illustration and graffiti art. Her most recent works on the street, a mix of portrait and abstract with some references to graffiti culture thrown in. Depicted on her wall for Bring the Paint 2024 is her friend , the tattoo artist Jay Yorke.
Tempo33
Birmingham writer Tempo is known for his iconic ‘Acid Face’ or ‘Acid Face with A Brace’. It’s an image which has been at the heart of many underground sticker and billboard campaigns. For an interview with Tempo take a look at the Killa Kela podcast.
Sam Grubb
A fun colourful piece from Leicester artist Sam Grubb. Another returning artist to Bring to Paint his monster characters seem to be happily chilling out in an island resort somewhere.
Verna Poppy
‘I’ve got you Babe’ is the latest work from Leicester local artist Verna Poppy. Painting on the High Street it shows a young girl cradling a baby pig. Verna is another artist who is returning to Bring the Paint for 2024.
Uh Oh
A musical piece with a number of Uh Oh’s characters singing “If it looks like trouble, walk away!” The piece is part of a campaign with Leicestershire Police encouraging people to move on if trouble looks like it’s near. The mural reminds people to have nights out to remember for the right reasons by walking away from heated situations
Wild
Wild is an artist from Germany whose pieces serve as inspiration for himself as well as for others. The image of the man painted on the High Street was taken whilst on a visit to the Bat Cave Temple (Pura Goa Lawah) in Eastern Bali. The man had captured his attention. Feeling that he had a unique and charismatic face. Seeking permission to take portrait photos he felt that he would like to paint him at some other place and at some other time.
Leicester was the place where he would be painted. Before Bring the Paint WILD contacted the man and found out he had been living in a small village in North Bali. Through his grandson, he learnt about his life. Called Jro Wavan Certia he is a traditional farmer who goes out every morning to check on his cows, pigs, and chickens. During the rainy season, he also grows crops and vegetables such as beans, corn, pumpkins, and cucumbers. Additionally he is highly recognized spiritual person. Known as a Jro Mangku, he is a person considered holy and someone who leads prayers in a temple on holy days.
Jro Wavan Certia is depicted wearing a head covering called an udeng which signifies that he is taking part in a reglious ceremony. The udeng is an expression of ‘ngiket manah’ which means that the person is taking control of their mind or at least deeply concentrating on their thoughts.
New Bond Street – Highcross Centre (back of Debenhams)
BRUS
An Italian graffiti writer painting for the first time at Bring the Paint. His wall on the back of Debenhams was actually a bonus piece for the artist. His main wall being a collaboration with SMUG on a giant wall on York Road. As a homage to that larger piece, the piece on New Bond Street says ‘Brusmug’ a joining of their two names.
EPIC
Birmingham based artist known for his vibrant use of colours and letters which bounce off the wall. He writes a variation of his name which is ‘EPIC’
Gloverman
Martin Glover aka Gloverman is a deaf artist whose work includes messages written in British Sign Language. Using stencils he makes out words using fingerspelling motifs for each letter which are then sprayed onto the work. Called ‘High Cross Eyes’ it includes four short sentences which form the eyelashes of the piece. More sentences using fingerspelling can be discovered in the veins of the eyes. Centered within the eyes are abstract Iris’s which form the pupil. These are based on the logos of Leicester City Council and the High Cross Shopping Centre. The colours of the fingerspelling motifs themselves are representative of the richness of the diverse community. As for what it says Glover says “You need to master fingerspelling to decifer the ‘words’ as my belief that everyone should know the fingerspelling by heart!
GOONISM
Leicester based artist Goonism has created a black and red wall of intermingling faces.
PAD 303
PAD is a versatile artist who has become known for his work which appears to blend an image into an existing brick wall. His work takes the idea of a wall which he either uses as a base or re-creates in some way and then abstracts it in some way. For PAD the idea of painting brick represents what he describes as “the solid foundations of the human journey”. Adding that the idea that something unexpected can ‘pop out’ of a wall can be a metaphor. Something that we take for granted every day without a second look and then something happens that changes your perception. His piece on New Bond Street shows the wall in a kind of vortex. Swirling and moving with a light breaking through. Suddenly bringing a whole new world of possibility to the space.
Title
A chrome skull stares out of the wall from black eyeless holes. From the top a chrome spray can appears whilst either side letters jump out. A local graffiti writer from Birmingham Title is an artist active since the mid 80’s. Often replacing a letter with a character the piece spells out his name TITLE. The piece is constructed so that the skull/spray can with the surrounding metallic and bio-mechanics spreading from it is actually designed as the central ‘T’ in the piece. Title’s style is influence by old skool graffiti with comics, science fiction fused with elements of bio mechanics and photo realism.
Old Matalan Site
The old Matalan Site on Church Gate provided the location for one of the key painting spots in the city. Having moved to the Haymarket the old building has been a shell ever since and the area is due for redevelopment. Until that time however, Bring the Paint were able to use it as the ideal canvas for a variety of artists
Church Gate
Running alongside the Matalan Building on Church Gate are a series of murals. All painted within the alcoves of the wall. Other pieces can be found in the alley that runs parallel and to the other side of the building.
Voyder
An artist who always seems to be pushing the boundaries of his style. This piece from Voyder appears as if a giant crumpled sticker has been placed on the wall.
Fanakapan
Known for his pioneering use of balloon letters. Fanakapan is an artist who really has led the way with the way his images seem to be actually floating up against the wall. His work for Bring the Paint 2024 was a completely freestyle piece spelling the word ‘Paint’ as it hovers above a crumpled spray can.
Netone
Leicester’s Netone’s pieces uses shades of gray across the work. Featuring a main character in a kind of Roman Centurion garb. It features a ‘Hello My Name Is’ sticker with a throw up written on top. The stickers were for a time very popular with graffiti writers who would use them to get there name out there.
CATCH
Legendary graffiti from London painting at Bring the Paint for the first time. He writes the name ‘CATCH’ and has done so here on the side of the old Matalan Building.
Peachzz
A woman amidst a background of flowers and a butterfly covering her mouth. The image is part of photo shoot Peachzz undertook a few years back. At the time she was developing her practice to incorporate more portraiture and these were study images. Prior to this Peachzz had been best known for her paintings of birds and the natural world. This piece feels very much like a fusing of the two.
HEFS
HEFS is a London based artist known for his outlines project ‘Couples Outlines Still‘. His piece in Leicester for Bring the Paint is an evolution of this tag and reads top to bottom as ‘Hef’, ‘Hefs’, ‘Hefism’. The piece is an exercise in style development. How one word can merge into the other to create one overall design. Inspired by the space HEFS wanted to make a piece that was nicely contained within the frame of the bricks. The colour was chosen specifically to contrast with the brick which was deliberately left unpainted. It meant that the tangled letters had room to breath. Stripping back to just 3 shades of blue/green he was able to created a gradient and then give a sense of depth to the letters.
Front and Back of Matalan
The building has not been in use for some time and is due at some point to be knocked down and the area redeveloped. Until such time, more artworks can be found near the front entrance and along the alley running along the side of the building.
ORBIS 85
Polish artist based from Krakow. Orbis likes to explore new shapes within his letters. Taking forms and abstracting and abstracting them. They all start with letters but turn into something different when he sees difference shapes starting to emerge.
CREKS
An emerging graffiti artist on the Leicester scene. CREKS is an artist who likes to experiment with different styles and in particular currently the use of black and white and how they interplay together.
FSIOR
Another Krakow based Polish artist. FSIOR’s letters drip and blend into each other. Keeping them loose the colour escapes the letters. His work features his name held by a skeletal character who appears to be eating it.
Young Soldiers
The Young Soldiers are individually known as Trion and Lord a pair of Italian twins living in the UK. Always huge fans of comics and cartoons, they say how they have been passionate about all forms of comic art from an early age. “That passion brought us to find graffiti” they told us. First experimenting with the medium when they were 16/17 years old, it’s been 22 years since them. “We’ve always seen at graffiti as a colorful way to express ourselves”. The idea of adding cartoon characters to letter shapes being the perfect form for them to explore. “We had an idea for this wall to do a comic layout style background”. It tells the story of Trion and Lord and their graffiti journey.
AMPLE x AIS
Two Leicester writers combining on this slightly surreal country scene. A hill made of letters sits amidst green fields whilst over the top an alien sits in it’s spaceship. Floating in the air are more letters dressed in what seems to be a strange cow themed cosplay. It’s where graffiti meets surrealism.
WWF Crew
Wizards With Funk or ‘WWF’ are a UK Based crew. Painting for Bring the Paint 2024 two members Kure and Seud decided to paint the Wizard name with a central character of a king in the middle.
Small Kid
A snarling robotic Micky Mouse type character from Small Kid who is an artist known for his love of comic characters.
Vaughan Way
Flying Fortress
From Germany Flying Fortress is a regular visitor to Leicester and known for his character art. His ‘Teddy Troopers’ in particular having taken on a life of their own. For Bring the Paint 2024 the style is similar but the image a little different. He has painted a group of sea elephants snarling by the side of the busy Vaughan Way. Initially planned to be 2 Flying Fortress airplanes battling each other. As he set upon the pose he realised that in many ways it started to resemble the sea elephants fighting. “So I gave my figure a new crossover twist of an airplane and a sea-elephant” he told Inspiring city. Also “the seals look a bit gawky when fighting rivals”. Wishing to play around more with his airplane character it’s also about turning the military symbolism on its head. To give it a funny twist and turn it away from it’s real life war reality.
HNRX
Austrian artist HNRX has been evolving his work into a more simplistic and abstract style. Yet, as in previous iterations of his art, he still generally focuses on the portrayal of everyday things and objects. Over the years these get more and more abstract resulting in work that is much more about the form and composition. His inspiration this year being grapes. For a previous interview with HNRX on Inspiring City have a look here.
Cultural Quarter
A key location ever since the first Bring the Paint in 2017. The LCB Depot is an event centre that is part of a creative hub in this part of the city. The streets around the the LCB having consistently supported artists creating work. Other cultural locations nearby include the Phoenix Cinema & Art Centre and the Soundhouse.
Colton Street (back of LCB Depot)
Aches
From Dublin Aches is another repeat visitor to Bring the Paint. His work often plays with colour theory and how colours blend together. When painting on a white background like in Leicester he is creating work with what he describes as subtractive colour theory. Using colours such as cyan, magenta, yellow and black. When those colours overlap on a white background they get darker which creates a full spectrum. The piece for Bring the Paint uses that effect in full and he has painted a giant tag saying ‘ACHES’ using it. For a full interview with ACHES where he talks about his theory of colours have a listen to this from Radio Juxtapoz.
Said Kinos
From Rotterdam Said Kinos is an artist who explores the interplay of letters and colours. From a graffiti background, he takes the principles and applies them into street art work such as what he has created in Leicester. Nevertheless he believes the two disciplines to be very different. His work for Bring the Paint will take some time to read though. It spells out a phrase which says ‘Never Leave the Light’.
LCB Building
45 RPM
An exhibition created just for the period of the Bring the Paint 2024 festival in Leicester. 45RPM is another regular visitor to the city. Known for his character work he describes the show as being therapeutic in some way, just painting for the sake of painting. Throughout the festival people could walk in and interact with the artist as he painted onto the walls. All of which was then white washed on the last day. The result a true moment in time for an artist who wanted no more than just to create.
Queen Street Car Park
RCLS
A homage to graffiti culture by the RCLS crew. It features a portrait of SEPAR a Slovakian musician. On his arm are references to the London underground and it is surrounded by tag which also says RCLS.
JoBer and Mr Poes
The latest installment in their series of murals exploring different elements of the Epic of Gilgamesh. JoBer and Mr Poes are French artists and many of the other stages are murals painted in their home country. Fascinated by Sumarian culture they like the idea that this was one of the very first stories. One that has survived throughout the centuries. In Leicester they have entitled the work ‘The Encounter’. It shows Gilgamesh meeting his twin who has been made out of clay and brought to life to confront him.
Nichols Street
NFA crew
A stone age scene by the NFA crew. A group of artists from around the Northampton and Peterborough area. On either side of the piece are characters. One, a wooly mammoth with a roller and on the other a caveman with a spray can. Both living the iNFAmous UGG Life.
Southampton Street
VAMP
From South East London, Vamp is one of the countries most prolific and notorious graffiti writers. Inspired growing up by the old hammer horror films, his name ‘Vamp’ stemmed from that point. Ever since then he’s been writing his name everywhere he can.
Yeoman Street
Ertjwe
Pronounced (etch-a) Ertjwe is an artist from the Netherlands. Known for his characters who are often found sneaking around in train yards. They are a throw back to the artists own past but somehow he says that the big round faces make it all relatable to everyone. The wall for Bring the Paint is painted entirely by brush which is ironic considering one of the characters is painting a train with a spray can. It is by far Ertjwe’s biggest wall to date.
Frog Island and North Leicester
The area to the north of Leicester is the city’s industrial heart. Here the confluence of the River Soar and the Grand Union Canal powered a lot of the cities development. Centered around Frog Island this area is at the heart of Leicester’s graffiti scene. The walls lining the canal and hoardings in the nearby area have often provided many opportunities to paint. Nearby the streets of Northgate Street, All Saints Road and Great Central Street heading into the city have also provided a propensity of walls over the years.
North Mills, Frog Island
Home of Graff HQ, Leicester’s famous paint shop. The team here have been key in the development of Bring the Paint. Based in the North Mills industrial estate on Frog Island. It is nestled on the banks of the canal. The walls around here provide the perfect setting for graffiti and street art.
Oust x Captain Kris
A collaboration wall on the side of the canal on North Mills. Oust and Captain Kris managed to complete most of this epic work on one day. It features some characters by Captain in the centre with letters either side from Oust.
Drax x Wise
Another collaboration on the banks of the canal. Drax is a graffiti pioneer behind the World Domination Crew. Painting with Wise CBM their piece also features a central character with letters either side.
Northgate Street
On Northgate Street an old car dealership has been turned into a completely painted canvas. Each side of the building has been painted and that includes the yard.
Sofles
Australian artist Sofles was certainly one of the biggest scoops for Bring the Paint 2024. Known well in his home country, for his epic scale works. Inspired by graffiti culture and comic books. His aim is to make strong images that evoke emotions in people. Saying on his website that he believes art should be an important part of the city landscape. “I want to create public art for people to enjoy and to transform spaces”.
Guime
Now living in Exeter, Guime is a Brazilian artist known for this large vibrant characters. His piece in the courtyard of the old car showroom shows a child writing down his dreams in a journal. Next to him sits his schoolbag and a cat playing with a ball of string.
Ziner
A letter piece with a large character on the side of the car showroom on Northgate Street from Ziner. The artist is well known for his raw graffiti lettering but also as an incredible artist. Recently he has been developing portraiture within his work alongside the graffiti styles. In particular this has been with the use of grey tones and the creation of black and white portraits to go alongside his letter pieces.
Rueloo
A spectacular portrait against a wall covered in tags and letters. Many of the tags represent crews painting at Bring the Paint and of course the festival itself. Look closely and try to make out RCLS crew and the NFA crew, both of whom have painted in the cultural quarter. Rueloo’s own tag is also written large in the background with the red toned portrait in front.
Slater Street – Leicester Indoor Bowls and Social Club
An array of some of the biggest underground graffiti writers around. The arches by the Leicester Indoor Bowls and Social club.
Super A & Kost (YWS) x archways (danger mouse and trains)
Super A is a Dutch artist who uses traditional painting techniques and to manipulate familiar iconography. The result is a modern surrealist take on characters and images that we’ve all likely seen before. His work in Leicester for Bring the Paint 2024 saw him combine with KOST from the local Yard Warriors crew.
Tripl
A piece re-painted time and again so that the letters change colour when edited together online. Up close and personal in Leicester it looks like a soup of random letters but actually spells out TRIPL FURIOSU. Here for Bring the Paint he was also representing his groundbreaking exhibition at the local Leicester Museum. ‘Re-painting Subway Art‘ was a major 10 year campaigh to recreate the images from that groundbreaking book.
SMASH 137 – Letters with funk
Swiss graffiti writer SMASH 137 is known for the development of his letters. According to Izzy Peacock the piece very much could be described as ‘Letters With Funk’.
STRAID
STRAID is a graffiti writer from Leicester and part of the Yard Warriors crew. His piece features a cat character against a yellow and orange backdrop along with some crazy style lettering.
OH BOY
Bucharest graffiti writer OH BOY has painted a colourful name piece. ‘Oh BOY’ runs throughout the wall whilst two birds sit around it.
DINER
A writer from Peterborough, DINER has created a letter piece with a blue hued theme.
Coming Soon…
A few pieces still to be completed in the arches and we’ll update when we see the final works…
MSERO
CRUTS & DSET
Hated but Rated
Great Central Street
At the side of popular bowling and sports venue Lane 7. The Great Central car park found itself taken over by the combined efforts of the SMT crew. Their large scale piece revealing a cartoon style ‘keystone cops’ esqe parody. It’s a scene harking back to their cat and mouse escapades with the British Transport Police. At the front of the car park pieces from Sheffield’s Kid Acne and German writer ‘Flying Fortress’ welcomes people into the car park.
Kid Acne – Car Park Entrance
Known for his word art Kid Acne is an artist from Sheffield known for his use of letters and phrases. His piece in Leicester for Bring the Paint 2024 saying ‘If it Don’t Fit, Don’t Force It, Just Relax and Let it Flow’. It sits at the entrance to the Grand Central Street car park.
SMT – Grand Central Car Park
Graffiti crew SMT’s modern day epic. A story of tussles with the British Transport Police and interaction with the courts. All created in comic book style in a humorous tongue in cheek way. Amongst the various members of the crew, many having run foul of the court system in the past.
Flying Fortress – Car Park Entrance
Fresh from completing his main mural on the side of the busy ‘Burley’s Way’. Flying Fortress managed to find the time to create another little painting at the entrance to the car park. In his typically comic style he has painting a seal chilling at the side of the road.
All Saints Road
Adam Illes & CASEM
A collaboration between Birmingham’s Adam Illes and Devon’s CASEM. A mix of photo realism and some of the most incredible letter forms you’re likely to see. Painting in a blue tone it’s a piece that jumps out at the entrance to the tunnel on All Saints Road. Illes has painted a Japanese inspiring scene in the background. Featuring one central figure it is then overlaid with the astonishing letter forms of CASEM.
SMO CREW & Skewer
A giant wall featuring a central monkey character in a shocked pose from Skewer. Surrounding the work individual members of the SMO crew have added their pieces in a patchwork type of approach. Artists featuring including Sorez, Sidok, Sky High, Nelius, Svons and Toil.
St Matthews Way
The area near the Burley’s Flyover is to the north east of the city centre. Pieces here can be found either side of the flyover which dissects Belgrave Gate with St Matthews Way. The space around the Megazone in particular contains a number of pieces. Nuno Viegas, Gent48m Ugloe and Taps & Moses all have big walls around the area.
Belgrave Gate
Taps & Moses
German underground graffiti writers. Known for their distinctive blue and yellow throw up style as well as for their train graffiti. They are not artists known for their participation in festivals. In fact laughs Izzy Peacock, festival director “nobody knows how to get hold of them, but Bring the Paint can”. Their piece on the busy highway of Belgrave Gate is a series of boards mixed up as if a mural has been painted before but mixed around.
Gower Street
Signe
Just on a side wall on Gower Street is this letter piece with a character from Signe. The artist is also part of the Yard Warriors a UK based crew who have painted a number of times in Leicester. His work on the side of the mega zone is a playful way to use a character and the shooting of a laser within his work. Using the Roman Centurion figure it co-incidentally is also a figure used by Netone on the of the old Matalan building.
Nuno Viegas
From Portugal and continuing his series of pieces heavily featuring his yellow tag ‘Metis’. Forming the background there is often a central image in the middle which provides contrast in grayscale tones. The second time he has painted with Bring the Paint, the subject matter of this piece is for him a kind of changing of the guard. Holding a paper plan it is meant to be thrown or in Nuno’s mind, something to pass on. Recently becoming a dad he has been thinking about legacy and hence the figure holding the plane is a child.
Wilton Street
Gent
Birmingham artist Gent is known for his character work and is a regular visitor to Leicester. His piece for Bring the Paint was an improvised work. Initially thinking to paint three characters he decided in the end to strip it back and to paint only one. Tucked away at the end of Wilton Street he said that he like being in a relatively ‘secluded spot’. “I was able to step back and reflect on what I was painting” he said on his instagram. “I think it’s those time when you’re analysing your piece that are really important for generating ideas and moving the piece forward”.
Ugloe
A graffiti writer from South East London, this was Ugloe’s first large scale festival mural. Better known as a more underground graffiti writer. Described by festival director Izzy Peacock as someone with a style that is “raw, underground almost street hooligan graffiti”. UGLOE is an artist who plays with illustration, comic and of course graffiti in her work. Bring the Paint is a platform where emerging writers such as UGLOE can be placed on the same platform as the likes of SMUG, Mr Cenz and SOFLES.
York Road
Slightly apart from much of the other painting during the Bring the Paint 2024 festival but what a reward when stumbled upon. SMUG, the Australian artist known for his spectacular large scale works is back. This time however he has collaborated with BRUS to create a dramatic battle scene with graffiti pieces at either side. The battle is of course the battle of Bosworth and the skull a reference to the bones of Richard III found under a nearby car park.
York Road (SMUG x BRUS)
Bring the Paint took place between 20-26 May 2024 across a number of locations in Leicester. It was the fourth street art festival to take place in the city. To read more about the festival and to learn about some of the murals in depth click here.
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