Marcus ‘Hyro’ Brown is a long-standing artist, from the City of Leeds. His artistic career has been advancing for 20 years, through community projects, corporate commissions and bespoke work.
Marcus’ love for art and artistic expression is profound and this profoundness is not necessarily displayed in the conventional way. This is an element of Marcus I hope to highlight in this interview. His internal is quietly vivid and his external (his art) is a much louder vivid. His art speaks for itself and now we have an opportunity to hear him speak.
What does the ‘Hyro’ stand for in your name Marcus Hyro Brown?
Hyro is a play on hieroglyphics – the word and the concept of creating art to tell stories and speak more than letters do.
You said you liked letters
Yeah, a fascination with composing things. I like the way you can change the form and structure on letters. Just from typography, there are different styles, handwriting and then naturally graffiti.
How do you like to describe yourself? An artist, street artist, graffiti artist? What would you call yourself?
I’m a Hip-Hopper, I guess. Who does graffiti. Graffiti is what I do. You can call me a graffiti artist. You can call me what you want, I guess. It doesn’t matter, does it? I’m just gonna paint. That’s what I’m going to do….. and create.
When and how did you become interested in art?
It was passed down from my dad. He used to be able to draw and I kind of inherited that. I was introverted and I used to draw. When Hip-Hop came on the scene, I would draw vinyl covers and logos. Yeah, that’s what I did. I just enjoyed it. It was kind of therapeutic, I guess.
What age were you when you started doing this?
Eight. Then with Hip Hop, about twelve to fourteen.
Are you formally educated in art?
Yes. I’ve only got a HND level in graphic design. I kind of got distracted from my path to play basketball. Playing semi-professionally, for a little bit. So, it kind of overshadowed sitting in front of a computer, looking at letters. That’s all really. It’s kind of illustration and graphic design. Like the composition of things.
The rest was learning how to spray paint through Monk. I did workshops with him and he showed me the ropes; by shadowing him doing workshops I learnt basic techniques and then it got to a stage where he supported me and we kind of work better as a team.
Do you feel that your formal education in art, helped with the grassroots of graffiti?
For sure it’s informed by brain. It’s informed my processes on things, because now I do mock ups on the tablet. Before I approach a wall, I’ll lay my artwork over the top of the photograph and change the size, the scale and the composition where the letters go and how we can make a wall stand out, plus be cohesive. Especially when I’m working with other artists. So yeah, it definitely informs my work in art now. I feel like my eyes have been made more refined doing that; spending that time studying graphics.
What does art mean to you personally?
It’s expressive. What does art mean? It’s a visual…. Yeah, I’m just intrigued by it and curious and I want people to be curious about the work. Yeah and investigate more.
What was your first commission and how did you feel about it?
We’re talking like, twenty… forty years ago. I remember being commissioned by Leeds City Council to open the second legal graffiti wall space in Leeds at Royal Park. They paid me to launch that as a graffiti wall, paint a piece and promote it and have it. Yeah, that was my first one.
How did you feel? Nervous, excited, daunted?
The daunting part, was how long the wall was. I couldn’t fill it as a single artist. Not with spray paint. It cost hundreds of pounds. I didn’t think back then to do a bigger design with emulsion and spray paint, a bit more loosely. I just did my piece and left it to the public, but yeah. It was exciting, I guess. I was just happy we had a second space to practice.
Are there any particular influences that inspire your art or are you inspired by absolutely anything?
Yeah, I take in stuff all the time. Japanese culture is heavily in my rotation at the moment. There is one thing that I’m leaning on at the moment – Samurai, gundownment, all the anime stuff, so I really want to visit Japan. This is foremost right now. I like Sci-Fi and I like culture and Hip-Hop, so I’m always looking for a way to interpret music or do Hip-Hop that is not stereotypical. So I try to consider all of my work is Hip-Hop. I’ve taken something from digital and made it physical, on a wall. A lot of references are photographic. Or/and digitally manipulated.
What is your favourite creation, so far?
Isn’t it wrong to choose a favourite?
I wouldn’t say it’s wrong. I’d say it can be difficult.
The favourites are the latest pieces I’ve painted.
The Japanese ones?
Well, this is the thing. I have a favourite from there. Then I have the one that we just did on the wall up the road. I look at my work all of the time. If I’ve just painted it; I’m staring at it. You know, to look for the flaws, if I’m happy with it. Could it have been done better? All of that. But I like the ones that scream blackness on a wall, if I’m honest. There’s not enough black faces in creating graffiti in our immediate circle. So, I want to paint black faces on the wall for sure.
It’s nice to see.
Yes, it’s refreshing. I want to do more in the community. My inspiration at the moment is heat radiation, thermal vision. I’m looking at doing more.
Tell me about the workshop shop and other graffiti events people can get involved with, at Northlight ** What’s GRAFFITI GALLERY about?
Savour.gallery is the new brand that we’re pushing and graffiti in the gallery space. Or graffiti on a gallery level. We’re taking care and pride in the production of walls, the cultivation of ideas and the community, also exhibiting the work. In regards to that, we want to do, kind of workshops, sketch sessions, just to kind of make it more… keep some of the traditions alive, in regards to face to face contacts, sitting and drawing and sparking ideas. The workshop is more for adults, because I’ve been doing a lot of youth provision, for the last – so many years. I just want to do more informal teaching, so there’s less structure. I know there are adults that are interested in, not to be professional graffiti artists, well that, too. People do want to be professional graffiti artists, but more so to have fun as an experience, to see how hard it is or easy it is to create whatever you draw. If that makes sense. Like, how does your drawing translate into spray painting? I want to keep it simple, fun and friendly. It’s trying to keep that balance and then for those people who want to take it seriously, we can go into more serious techniques and more serious teaching. There’ll be Masterclasses for people who want to pursue it. There’ll also be taster sessions, too. Come and experience or for team building. We’ll have the facilities to work with at Northlight to make that happen.
Is this the SPRAY EXPERIENCE you are talking about?
Yeah, a bit of all of it, really.
Whats happening in the BENCH COMMUNITY?
This is more of a sit-down drawing session. Call it graffiti drawing, if you like. Finding inspiration. What are we going to paint next on that wall? Is it a summer theme? What does a summer theme look like to everyone? So we all kind of do our own thing, bring it together and see if we can make it cohesive and if it’s strong enough as an idea, I’ll pull the trigger and say right, in August we are going to paint that wall with this theme and create an event. When I say an event, I’m interested in people coming to watch what we do. We play music and we vibe, as you saw the other day. Normally I’m painting, so it’s refreshing to not, in fact it’s weird to not be painting.
Is the ARTIST SHOP, what it says in the tin?
This is more for the website, so I want to promote the artists that I work with, similar to how galleries do it. You know, traditional galleries. I want to have a selection of artists and have a space, where artists can sell artists’ work, on artists’ behalf, through the website. It’s all in development. The website is up, but it’s not how I want it yet. It just needs updating.
Lastly, tell us about GRAFFITI PRO COMMISSIONS?
Again, all the artists I’m involved with are professional. I was saying to Paul from Northlight**, that all the work created out there would cost them thousands of pounds, if they were to pay the artist what they were worth. I want to have an agency where we have a hub, with a variety of artists, with different styles, different skill sets who can offer commissioned base stuff and get paid. It’s just looking a bit more professional and a bit more refined in the idea of what graffiti is, because people want graffiti style work and it’s like, nah. If that’s the case we’ll just do what we do.
I’m not going to tag up the toilets, because it looks cool. We’re not doing trendy s***, we’re doing class, quality stuff. I’m trying to separate myself from all of the other mural companies and artists that are out there that have been trying it since Covid and now they’re professional graffiti artists, two years later. You haven’t paid no dues. You haven’t developed your craft enough. You’ve got competent, but you’re trying to run before you walk. It’s just culturing the culture and it’s disrespectful really, to be fair – for us that take it as a lifestyle.
So yeah. Rather than be bitter and grumpy in my old age, I’m just going to be active and do what I want to see. Even if I’m not involved. Just get people I know to come and paint.
Where would you like your art to be in the future?
Internationally. I want to set out to other countries. I want to paint as often and as much as I can. I want to keep connecting the dots, connecting the artists. Setting standards, keeping the quality rising and raising the bar of the work and get artists paid!
** Northlight Arts Centre in Chapel Allerton, founded by Paul Simon and Tim Miller.
