The Cheltenham Paint Festival has returned for 2024. First taking place in 2017 it is now a firmly established fixture on the UK Street Art Festival circuit. Attracting artists from the UK, Europe and from across the globe,.
Major Murals
As ever the paint festival brings together a variety of different art styles. All taking place across Cheltenham at multiple locations. Each year sees newer permanent and larger walls added whilst other spots get fresh artworks on their walls.
Cheltenham Paint Festival Murals of 2024
2 Pigs, Church Street
A regular location at the Cheltenham Paint Festival. The 2 Pigs is a centrally located pub with a courtyard that acts as the perfect canvas. Each year artists come here to paint it’s walls and then to meet for an end of event celebration.
Angus
Byambal Art
Georgie
Johnman
Massive Face
Sadie Were
Snug One
Vane MG
Aggs Pavillion
A groundsman’s hut on the edge of Pittville Park. The Aggs Pavillion is another regularly painted location. The walls here getting a refresh each year. It’s a location which offers artists prominent walls against the backdrop of the parks greenery. Artists taking part for 2014 include Adam Illes, Tech Moon, Liam Bononi, Andy Council, Ejits and Curtis Creations.
Adam Illes
Andy Council
Curtis Creations & Ejits
Liam Bononi
Tech Moon
Benhall Park, Robert Burns Avenue
Hidden away underneath a bridge on Robert Burns Avenue. The walls here are actually the main pillars of the road which flys over a bubbling little stream. Leading off from here leads to a nature trail and visitors can also relax in the nearby park.
Mister Tris
Brewery Quarter
Returning for the second year in a row to the central Brewery Quarter. Perspicere makes his work using miles and miles of string. The resultant image building up after hours of labour intensive activity. Positioned within the entrance to the Brewery Quarter it provides an interactive experience for visitors as they are able to see the work build. Both this years piece and the one created the year before are exhibited in the nearby Holiday Inn Express.
Perspicere
Charlton Court Road
A new wall on the outskirts of Cheltenham for 2024. It’s a piece on the side of a housing block on the way to Charlton Kings. Painting for only the second time in the UK, the artist Artez plays with ideas of portraiture. Depicting a woman in dance, she is moving around a chair which acts as a prop. His work is around showcasing the human body and redefining what a portrait should be.
Artez
Frog & Fiddle
Another regular location at the Cheltenham Paint Festival. The backyard of the Frog & Fiddle has a courtyard with a mixture of permanent and semi-permanent artworks.
Zed in the Clouds and Friends
Phase Chan
Gloucester Road – Arles Court
Brand new for the 2024 Cheltenham Paint Festival. The underpass at Arles Court leads from the Travelodge and KFC underneath the busy A417. It’s an area of expansive walls that become one of the main painting spots for this years festival. Multiple artists including Curtis Hylton , Miss Teal and Abraham taking the weekend to transform the space completely.
Curtis Hylton
Miss Teal
Curtis Hylton
Abraham
Hales Road
On the side of a residential house on Hales Road. Dan Kitchener has created another of his light inspired scenes. The artist has already painted multiple times in Cheltenham. The piece on Hales Road adding to three previous murals he has already painted in the town.
Dan Kitchener
Holiday Inn Express (courtyard)
A big supporter for the festival it already boasts two large murals on it’s exterior walls. Move inside however and it’s courtyard holds yet more secrets including work from Perspicere and Curtis Hylton. For the 2024 Cheltenham Paint Festival LPVDA added work the their wooden gates. Using an angle grinder and sander he chips bits off the wood to create astonishing murals.
LPVDA
Henrietta Street
Running along the side of the Brewery Centre this is a location which already has pieces from Liam Bononi, Zabou and Philth. Adding to the work this year is Sam Art whose smaller pieces as part of previous festival paint jams have been stand outs. For the 2024 Cheltenham Paint Festival it saw his work elevated in quite a major way.
Sam Art
A painting with multiple layers but one that primarily that draws attention to beauty and gentility of the simple things in life. It acts as a contrast to the ever growing division in the world. “There isn’t anything more beautiful than the innocence of youth” Sam told Inspiring City. Adding that we all have a natural connection to art and nature. It’s something we are all born with before it is then watered down by life. Called ‘Page 75’ it also references the 75th anniversary of the Cheltenham Literature Festival. The power of reading, literacy and getting lost in a book is something that Sam also wanted to portray.
The Robin in the piece also represents a more spiritual connection. Thinking back to the experience of losing loved ones he reflects on how those painful experiences shaped his outlook on life. “I chose to include the robin as a symbol of messages or visits from beyond or the universe or what ever god you might worship, and also as another layer of that connection to nature”. Adding that “the bubbles also represent that overwhelming take over of imagination whilst buried in a book and the fragility of life we all experience. I chose the pinkish colours as it feels to me a really soothing and calm colour, I did this in the hope it spreads calmness and connection between the people who see it.
Honeybourne Line Bridges
A series of bridges which once would have taken trains are now locations for artists. Since the beginning of the Cheltenham Paint Festival it is an area that has been well utilised. Artists here are mainly local and emerging in the urban art scene.
Multiple Artists
Honeybourne Line Tunnels
The Honeybourne Line Tunnels have been at the centre of Cheltenham graffiti and street art for years. Long before the festival, director Andy Davies talks of how he would organise little jams just in these tunnels. Since then they have become an key location for the festival. Always accomodating multiple artists.
North Place Car Park
The hoardings of the North Place car park have seen many different artists over the years. Another very regular spot, this year once again saw multiple hoardings painted. Rumours at the 2024 festival however hinted that this year might be the last time the location could be used. For some time the car park has been at the centre of development aspirations and so it could soon be built over.
Pittville Skatepark
Always a location for new and emerging artists. The skatepark sits at the north end of the popular Pittville Park and has been used in some form every year. Generally artists here are new and emerging into the scene.
Princess Elizabeth Way
A remarkable campaign to create large scale murals on housing blocks has been a central part of the festival over the past few years. The resulting artworks have completely transformed the area bringing vibrancy and colour to the apartment blocks.
Anna Charney
Emily Ding
Nina Valkoff
Spray Saint
Katie Scott
Promenade
New to the 2024 Cheltenham Paint Festival, the Promenade is a central location in the town. The wall is also the first time that the event has painted on a Grade 2 listed facade. Some controversy however has meant that the piece was painted without the requisite planning permission. As a result it remains to be seen if it will last. However one thing is for sure, the artwork which depicts women dancing with horses is an absolutely beautiful work. You can read more about the story behind this mural in this article.
Margot
St Pauls Street South
Kitsune Jolene & Krimsone
A tiny road just running off the High Street in the centre of Cheltenham. Kitsune Jolene is a Belgian artist known for her stylised, graphic yet delicate portraiture. Her murals have a distinctive colour palette and explore themes of folklore and and storytelling. She collaborated for the 2024 Cheltenham Paint Festival with her partner, the Australian artist Krimsone who was one of last years headliners.
Speaking about the mural Kitsune said that “It was the first time me and my partner Krimsone collabed so it’s a bit of a love story in itself. We both struggle with sleep and have found comfort with each other. The woman we used as the model is my good friend Peachzz… On top we’ve found out that there’s a swan in Cheltenham named George so it all kinda fit together really sweetly”
Sun Street
Sitting just off Swindon Road. The wall on Sun Street is in a quiet residential area on the back of some garages but in front of a green grassy space. A collaboration between the artist Aspire and ‘The Hass’ replaced a previous work that had been created as part of the 2020 festival.
Hass & Aspire
Swindon Road
A residential building on Swindon Road now has a splash of prue blue colour. Pogo’s circular mural features a woman’s face set against a backdrop of flowers and all painted using blue shades. It’s a beautifully delicate work. A regular contributor to the paint festival there are a number of other Pogo works across the town.
Pogo
Town Centre East Car Park
Returning for the second year running the Town Centre East car park is another location at risk of redevelopment. Until that time however artists have been able to paint within car park itself.
Apparan
‘Uprising’ is Apparan’s mural for the 2024 Cheltenham Paint Festival dedicated to Nasty Gallery and Nastywomenlondon. It celebrates their extended art show at Artbeit Studios London. The mural highlights women’s contemporary struggles, balancing family, jobs, and art, and how they continue to rise and shine despite challenges.
James Archer Art
This piece, like most of the artist’s work, is influenced by style and portraiture. It represents a “catfish,” as depicted by the tentacles taking a selfie. The concept emerged during the process, as the piece was largely free-styled without much planning, created purely for fun.
SoulD Art
The SoulD_Art piece features a woman, repeated three times in cyan, magenta, and white. Each color represents a different mood or aspect of her self: cyan for calm introspection, magenta for passion and vitality, and white for clarity and contemplation. This triptych invites viewers to reflect on the multifaceted and ever-changing nature of identity.
Must One
MustOne wanted to create something that inspires growth and reflection amidst the chaos of everyday life. He believes a single spark can change the universe, bringing light even in dark times, though this energy can also be destructive. His art balances light and shadow, building layers to enhance both. As the Tao Te Ching says, ‘The path into the light seems dark’.
Polly Merredew
The design connects the aesthetics and functionality of the pillar, using cubes to symbolize the building blocks. The symmetrical pattern around the column ensures visual balance, while the lighting disrupts it to create shadows and enhance the optical effect. A limited palette of bright colors brings sunshine to a dark car park corner while maintaining visual unity.
Stocke
Williams Cycles, Sherbourne Place
An area awash with big bold murals. Most were painted in 2018 but since then artists have been updating and replacing some longer standing pieces. This year saw London based Dale Grimshaw, C.A.S.E.M and Void One create spectacular additions.
C.A.S.E.M
Dale Grimshaw
A huge portrait surrounded by figures that themselves seem taken out of artworks from the Tate Britain. “This mural is about the joy of painting” Dale told Inspiring City. “I have been painting for most of my life and I now have a joy in using the techniques of drawing, creating compositions and using a rich palette of colours that I have developed. I am also celebrating the art of painting from throughout history – with the inclusion of elements borrowed from the classical and baroque periods in art history, as well as more contemporary imagery. At the centre of all my work is human emotion. The imaginary figures I create represent humanity in its purest form, everyman/woman beyond gender or race”
Void One
The Cheltenham Paint Festival 2024 took place over the weekend of 27th and 28th July 2024. Inspiring City visited the town during the festival and all photographs were taken then. You can read more about the street art of Cheltenham here. Thanks to Hannah Judah for the use of many of her photos in this piec.
For more Inspiring City articles you might like, take a look at…
- Where to find Street Art in Cheltenham
- Interview with Andy ‘Dice’ Davies
- Paint Festival brings street art to Worcester
- Murals of the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2022
- Street Art of the Weston Wallz Festival 2023
- Car Park Street Art at the Cheltenham Paint Festival
- Paint Jam Artworks as part of Cheltenham Paint Festival 2024
- Great things to do in Gloucester
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Brilliant
Thanks Mitch so many great works this year 😀
I don’t doubt some competency involved here, but this is wrong on so many levels for Cheltenham. It does not stop graffiti as those perpetrators just move quickly to another site. It is art that people soon get tired of. It is a quick fix at cheering people up that very quickly fades. And as for the really terrible wall art it reminds people of deprivation and is apologetic for not resolving social ills.
And finally Cheltenham is not Bristol or Derry or anywhere else, stop trying to force a fringe culture on everyone.
I hope they will be restored to original condition…the houses.