6458. Leicester

Mr Cenz, Leicester Bus Station, Leicester, July 2024
Mr Cenz, Leicester Bus Station, Leicester, July 2024

Earlier this year I travelled to Leicester for a Team Meeting and managed to pick up a few pictures of street art, much of which had been painted at this year’s ’Bring the Paint’ festival. Rather than concentrate too much on each piece, I am going to present a mini gallery of work from the visit.

Mr Cenz, Leicester Bus Station, Leicester, July 2024
Mr Cenz, Leicester Bus Station, Leicester, July 2024

This might be the best Mr Cenz piece that I have seen anywhere. It is clean, crisp and vibrant, and uplifts the bus station beyond all recognition. An absolute stunner.

Nuno Viegas, Gower Street, Leicester, July 2024
Nuno Viegas, Gower Street, Leicester, July 2024

Nuno Viegas painted this piece this year and it is not too dissimilar to one he painted a couple of years ago in Leicester for the festival. A classy ‘paper aeroplane’ piece – a theme that runs through much of his work.

Verna Poppy, The Haymarket, Leicester, July 2024
Verna Poppy, The Haymarket, Leicester, July 2024

I don’t know much about Verna Poppy, but rather liked this piece that was in good company with Inkie and Philth/N4T4 adjacent to it.

Lucy Danielle, The Haymarket, Leicester, July 2024
Lucy Danielle, The Haymarket, Leicester, July 2024

Another artist I have not encountered before is Lucy Danielle who came up with this abstract photorealistic mash up. A beautiful design. There is so much great artwork in Leicester, and well worth a visit.

6329. Leicester

Aches, Leicester, May 2024
Aches, Leicester, May 2024

Alas, today is my last day in Copenhagen, and I have to say I have been having a truly wonderful time in a city that feels very content with itself, without being conceited. I would willingly come back again, and the trip from Bristol is incredibly quick and easy. There is only one downside, and that is Copenhagen is a very expensive city, so it is just as well my visit was confined to a long weekend.

Another city visit I made in May this year was to Leicester (I went again in July), and was fortunate enough to snap up a few pieces from a Bring the Paint festival a couple of years ago, at the start of the week when one or two of them were painted over for the 2024 festival. These are four very different pieces collected together to save valuable time and space on Natural Adventures.

Aches, Leicester, May 2024
Aches, Leicester, May 2024

This is an incredible piece by Aches, an artist who visited Bristol for Upfest in 2022. I haven’t yet posted that piece… must try harder.

Homboog, Leicester, May 2024
Homboog, Leicester, May 2024

I know nothing about the artist Homboog, but I can definitely say that I love this stunning character/writing combination piece.

Philth, Leicester, May 2024
Philth, Leicester, May 2024

Unfortunately this outstanding Philth piece is painted in a busy yard, and there was no way I was going to be able to get round those palettes, so you’ll just have to imagine how good the whole thing must have looked when it was first painted.

Voyder and Aches, Leicester, May 2024
Voyder and Aches, Leicester, May 2024

Damn the car! This is a magnificent collaboration from Aches and Voyder. The latter was an artist who used to paint a lot in Bristol before being seduced by London, our loss was their gain. He was the last artist I was expecting to find in Leicester, but that is what makes hunting for street art so much fun. More from Leicester soon.

6281. Leicester

Inkie, High Street, Leicester, July 2024
Inkie, High Street, Leicester, July 2024

It is always great to see work by Inkie, but especially so when outside Bristol, it feels like a home from home. This is an outstanding piece of writing with some flat pink, stylised portraits and silhouetted urban landscape in the background.

Inkie, High Street, Leicester, July 2024
Inkie, High Street, Leicester, July 2024

The letters BTP, which form a kind of print backdrop, stand for Bring the Paint, a street art festival hosted in Leicester every now and again. This piece was painted by Inkie for this year’s festival, and accompanies others that he has painted in previous festivals here. This a really nice, tight graffiti writing, and a superb example of Inkie’s work.

6280. Leicester

Philth and N4T4, High Street Leicester, July 2024
Philth and N4T4, High Street Leicester, July 2024

I am quite fortunate that my job takes me around the country from time to time, and I get to visit different cities. Of course, while I am passing by, I never pass up the opportunity to stroll about the place and take a few photographs. I have visited Leicester twice recently. Once before the Bring the Paint 2024 festival, and once afterwards. These pictures were taken afterwards, so the pieces are recent – unlike many pictures that I take as a visitor, which are often of old pieces. This is a fabulous collaboration from Philth and N4T4, who have teamed up at Upfest on several occasions.

Philth, High Street, Leicester, July 2024
Philth, High Street, Leicester, July 2024

Philth is known for his large floral repeating pattern pieces, which remind me so much of my childhood in the 1970s and the rebirth of elaborate wallpaper, mimicking our Victorian predecessors. This piece, in sumptuous colours is absolutely stunning and would look amazing if scaled up onto a larger wall, revealing more of the repetition.

N4T4, Leicester, High Street, July 2024
N4T4, Leicester, High Street, July 2024

This gorgeous portrait is by N4T4, who, like Philth, is no stranger to Natural Adventures. There are actually two musicians featured in the piece, Gladys Knight (spelling?) and Jon1st, both painted with N4T4’s unusual patterning style that underpins and adds vibrancy to his work. A special and beautiful collaboration on the High Street for shoppers and visitors to enjoy.

6098. Leicester

Inkie, Nottingham, May 2024
Inkie, Nottingham, May 2024

These pieces bring together the familiar with the unfamiliar. Finding Inkie pieces in other towns and cities is always hugely rewarding, and gives me a sense of Bristol pride. To find two pieces in a city that I have never visited in my life before was definitely a bonus. I’m not too sure when these pieces were painted, and not to sure whether they survived the ‘Bring the Paint’ festival which was starting (coincidentally) on the morning I was out taking these photographs.

Inkie, Nottingham, May 2024
Inkie, Nottingham, May 2024

The two pieces showcase Inkie’s portfolio really well, containing his stylised Art Nouveau portraits and in the second piece combined with a classic piece of Inkie writing. Always good to see, and Inkie wasn’t the only Bristol artist to have painted in the city where I spotted artwork by Mr Penfold, Lewse, Skank and others… making me feel very much at home. I might have to pay another visit sometime.