45RPM: Graffiti and Character Art at Bring the Paint

Sitting in Leicester with 45RPM and he is taking a break in the midst of his exhibition ‘Writers Block’ at the Bring the Paint Festival. We are in the LCB Depot. Sitting at the heart of the cultural quarter and the artist is using it as a canvas. An opportunity he says to get things out of his head and onto the wall.

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Interview with 45 RPM

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As an artist he is perhaps best known for his character work. Both professionally and in his own art. He seeks inspiration in the everyday. Often able to turn the most innocuous things and bring them to life.

Music

The name 45RPM comes from his love of music. Obsessed with collecting vinyl as a kid he would particularly focus on punk singles. A combination of the rebellious nature of the sound but also the artwork that would be on punk 7 inch. The revolutions per minute of those would be 45 and so 45RPM was a nod to his passion.

Graffiti Inspirations

Graffiti was an interest to the young 45RPM growing up. Living in Kent and travelling often to London on the train, he would notice it everywhere along the tracks. One writer in particular stood out… Zelda. “I’d be like what is this” he says. “I’d be on the train and it’d be just Zelda, Zelda, Zelda”. It sparked a passion that would help provide an outlet and that would be into the world of graffiti.

Other Side of the Fence

Art was always where his passion was growing up. Not considering himself to be particularly academic, art was what he considered himself to be good at. Though, this was also within parameters. Drawing bowls of fruit in the classroom didn’t excite him but graffiti did. The idea of needing to know what was on the other side of a fence. “The excitement when you’re a kid and that hunger. That’s just carried on”.

Character Development

“If you draw everyday you get good at something” says 45RPM on his development into character art. He describes it as a journey, a discipline that he needed to work at in order to get good. Painting graffiti he had decided that in addition to the letters, he wanted characters to be there. “I knew what I liked. 70’s mascots or something that would be on a fruit box printed badly, that always appealed to me”.

Painting Perfection

This drive and the need to get better is something that spurs 45RPM on as an artist. “I’ve still got massive hunger and I want to get better all the time” he says. He likes the idea on looking at older work and being able to critique it. To be able to see the flaws or faults with a new eye informed by a greater level of experience. “If you paint the perfect piece then you’re done aren’t you, what would be the point in that?”

45 RPM was interviewed on 24 May 2024 at the Bring the Paint festival in Leicester. You can follow his work through his instagram and website.

For more Inspiring City articles you might like, take a look at…

• All the Murals from Bring the Paint 2024
• Interview with Izzy, Director of the Bring the Paint Festival
• Bring the Paint 2019
• Street Art and Graffiti from Bring the Paint 2017