Leeds street artist unveils 10m mural at Chow Down festival raising awareness for Heart Research UK

The art, titled '4’s a Crowd', is the work of Nicolas Dixon - the man behind the Bielsa the Redeemer mural in Wortley.

Nicolas' latest project is raising awareness of Heart Research UK's anonymous heART project, an art auction which has raised £130,000 for medical research into preventing, treating and curing heart disease.

Spanning over four boards, the mural is painted in Nicolas' distinctive abstract style and embodies elements of the Heart Research UK logo.

Launched in 2018, the anonymous heART project is a charity auction on Ebay that has sold almost 500 postcard-sized art pieces created by world-famous artists, raising money for the charity.

Nicolas told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "The charity deserves the awareness, they've had the plug pulled on them like the rest of the world.

"It was initially painted for the auction in October, but we couldn't launch it due to Covid restrictions. Now it's at Chow Down all summer and will be seen by thousands of people every week.

"It's good for me, good for the charity, and good for Chow Down to have a nice piece of work on the wall. It's something for people to feast their eyes on while they’re chowing down."

In the past decade, Heart Research UK has been behind a £10.2m investment in medical research in hospitals and universities and has funded community projects worth over £2m.

Their anonymous heART project is part of the charity’s initiative to "use art to save hearts across Yorkshire”.

The chief executive of Heart Research UK, Kate Bratt-Farrar, said: “Yorkshire and Humber has the highest death rate from coronary heart disease in England.

"Heart Research UK has been working for over 50 years to try and change this.”

The '4's a Crowd' mural will be on display at Chow Down for the rest of the summer.

Chow Down co-founder, Matt Long, said: "Nicolas is a great friend of ours and we’re proud they’ve chosen Chow Down, it's been great to see people taking pictures of the artwork.

"It's transformed that part of the site."

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