Entertainment Swindon

Swindon Paint Fest 2024, founded by Artsite and funded by Arts Council England and sponsors, is a free and inclusive, community-led event that celebrates the arts and raises Swindon’s community spirit by bringing colour and creativity to the town.

This year 60 talented artists from Swindon and around the world will be bringing their creativity and energy to the town for the third Swindon Paint Fest mainly happening on Saturday, August 31st and Sunday, September 1st.

Activities planned include large-scale murals, live painting, exhibitions, family friendly workshops, music and more at various locations in and around town including; Artsite, Rudi’s Bar, Central Library, Regent Street, Fleming Way, Corporation Street, Commercial Road area, Steam Railway Co, Gustoso Bistro & Hop Inn. 

The organisers of Swindon Paint Fest 2024 are also proud to announce an exclusive art exhibition by Andi Burns Colwill titled “Sketches & Stuff” to be held at Artsite from Friday 30th August to Sunday 8th September. Part of his exhibition will include artwork created on reclaimed old plywood from the Artsite building itself.

There will be a Street Art Exhibition by Oink Gallery, Old Town ‘BRICKS, DOTS + BLOCKS 2’ and an Exhibition from local Artist Charlotte Abraham at Gustoso Bistro and Bar, Old Town during the weekend as well.

Local artist Charlotte Abraham said: ”The 2023 Swindon Paint Fest was my first taste of murals, outdoor, and live painting. It was such a fantastic experience, and so much so that I’m coming back for more as part of 2024. “

Speaking to the organisers of this years event they said: ‘It’s been really important to us to continue to build on Swindon’s rich mural heritage.  The amazingly talented local and international artists, travelling as far from Australia to be part of this year’s event, will be creating unique artwork that taps into everyone’s imagination”.  

They went on to say: “There is so much to do during the weekend so keep an eye out on our social media to see what’s on and where. Ranging from body painting demos, workshops, live drawing, exhibitions and a pop up shop by Trinity Collective that will be featuring art supplies,  artists merchandise and artworks. Artist Dario Santos has designed two exclusive colouring-in sheets that will feature as part of Rudis Bar Family Fest Fun Sunday with our sponsor Pentel providing the art supplies”. 

Swindon is now a leading mural destination again and features heavily on Street Art Cities online platform. You can download the app and start hunting and documenting the new ones that will be created for this year’s fest by local and global artists who will be gracing our town with their presence and talents.

List of featured artists: 

Dayna Baxter and Paul Exton renowned local artists based in Swindon, have worked together on several art projects and murals locally. Both their art styles are similar and compliment each other. Based upon abstract Geometrical and Architectural shape and design, and incorporating a strong colour palette in line with a taste for future vision within the Swindon outlook.

Sophi Odling is an Australian artist who paints large-scale murals around the globe. Her work focuses on the beauty amongst the chaos in our everyday lives. The vivid narratives reflect human behaviours, environments and cultures that she encounters. Born in 1983 in Seoul, South Korea, Sophi grew up in Sydney, Australia, where she currently lives and works. In 2005 Sophi completed her BFA at UNSW College of Fine Arts. In 2017 Sophi started painting murals after a 14 year career in fashion. Her murals can be seen in America, Europe, South East Asia, Central America and Australia. Sophi presents her work in hope to celebrate the acceptance of cultural diversity, borderless minds and the innocence of youth.

Remy Uno is a French painter and began his artistic career as a graffiti artist in Marseille, France at the end of the 90’s. He is an artist who dissects, who cuts bodies with light colours and energetic movements, that decomposes and deconstructs the classic to build a new neo-expressionist reality. In 2002 he participated in the creation of Lartmada (Marseilles collective) with which he was invited to paint and exhibit in several parts of the world. His work, on both canvas and walls, essentially deals with portraits and the intimate, filled with colourful off-beat faces and bodies. 

Jack Lack was born and raised in Stuttgart and has produced a variety of different-sized and themed murals throughout his artistic endeavours. Jack creates three-dimensional images that are part of the broader canvas of the urban environment. Inspired by elements of industrial/urban decay, such influences are part of Jack Lack’s art, creating a vivid contrast between the fresh colour tones and the urban decadence of modern city-centres.

Ricky Also is an established artist in the graffiti and street art movements with over 30 experience developing his own work as well as curating and helping to producing various street arts events and projects including the Upside outdoor gallery (Bournemouth) and MultiStories – Street art car park (Southampton).

His love for typography, colour & layout are the product of his background in graffiti art and graphic design. Drawing on these influences he creates structured artworks from words and sayings that interlock in multiple layers. Featuring exaggerated & manipulated letterforms that help to give a unique sense of movement and rhythm. With the majority of his work taking the form of painted murals, he plays heavily with scale and the concept of using supersized graphics to transform spaces and environments. Now based on the south coast of the UK, Ricky applies his art to a wide range of projects nationally, working through his creative practice, Paintshop (paintshopstudio.com). 

Mr Cenz has been scribbling on surfaces since 1984 when he first discovered hip- hop culture and graffiti art. Since his first commissioned mural at 11yrs old he has continued progressing and experimenting with his art through college and University. This has led to a career as a professional graffiti artist with several solo shows and high profile commissions internationally. His distinctive work can now be seen all over the streets and in the galleries of the world. He is known for his unique, dynamic and expressive graffiti style, which features intricate patterns, energetic lines and vibrant colours. His work focuses on highly detailed portraiture created with a mesmerising blend of realism and surrealism. There’s a sense of movement and energy, as if the emotions and thoughts of the subject are coming to life and conveying deep emotion and mystery. These futuristic and cosmic- fueled creations are painted in a freestyle and spontaneous way which display an ethereal and translucent quality. The musical influence in his work is reflected in the rhythmic and funky feel to his compositions, shapes, flows and forms. His work has been described as “surrealist graffiti art for the soul”

Leonidas Giannakopoulos is a visual artist from Athens and a graduate from the Athens School of Fine Arts. His works aim to create a retro futuristic universe. A fantasy world that keeps evolving, combining personal artistic references with everyday life inspiration. Travelling as a concept and expanding the known limits of human nature as a state of mind has always been a crucial matter in his artistic practice.

Over the past decade, he has been involved in numerous exhibitions involving multiple artists. He has also had three solo exhibitions in Greece and Europe, and has been appointed to produce various works of street art in Greece and abroad. 

Emic is a Belfast based artist that delves into the human experience, examining our place in the world we inhabit and the one we’ve created. Combining elements of sociology, philosophy, urbanism, and the digital realm; his work is characterised by large-scale murals featuring a blend of figures, portraits, animals, and botanical elements.

Emic has honed his unique aesthetic over a decade of practice, incorporating flat colour, silhouettes, realism, and abstraction. The artistic process, from conception to execution, is designed to reflect the themes of digitisation and urbanism that underlie his work.

Rather than exhibiting his work in traditional galleries, Emic chooses to display it in public spaces, allowing him to connect with those who may not typically engage with art. This setting is where he feels most authentic and true to the ideas he explores.

Liam Bononi, an artist based in the United Kingdom, initiated his career in graffiti in 2007. His distinctive style is rooted in an early immersion in the artistic realm, drawing inspiration from exaggerated, dramatic, and theatrical expressions.

Bononi’s portraits reflect intense emotions, predominantly introspective or in states of catharsis, delving into the drama of self-discovery and human transformation. The hands take centre stage, symbolising performance and contradiction, representing a dual power capable of both construction and destruction. This intrinsic contradiction in his creations harmonises with the exploration of psychological transformation.

The fragments in his works symbolise the deconstruction of the past, providing a visual representation of the constant metamorphosis in the human journey

The event has been supported by Painting By Numbers, Rudi’s Bar, Tom Faulkner, Gel Studios, SAS Elite Scaffolding, Brewers Decorators Centre, Pentel, Zurich, Gustoso, U Be You Paint, Kobra and both the Swindon Borough Council & Central Swindon North Parish Council.