Malmesbury artist ‘thrilled’ to paint Glastonbury mural

A street artist says he is “thrilled” to be painting a mural for this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

Syd, whose real name is Luke Hollingworth, is known for the creations he paints in his shed on wooden blocks, as well as larger murals on buildings and canvases.

His 2016 image of Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis with a Ziggy Stardust-inspired lightning bolt on his face “became a bit of a festival symbol for that year”.

Mr Eavis has one of the artist’s works hanging in his office at Worthy Farm, “which is fantastic,” Syd said.

He told BBC Radio Wiltshire that this year’s mural, which will be on display at his stand in Greenfields, is inspired by one of the headliners.

The artist said he named his company The Stencil Shed after he “pimped out” the shed he used to make art indoors and entered the Shed of the Year competition.

He said the project became “a bit of an escape” from his corporate job.

After his shed and drawings of the interior were featured on the Channel 4 programme, people started getting in touch to buy his artwork, prompting him to start painting full-time.

“It’s amazing, I have some clients who have over 50 Stencil Sheds all on one wall,” said Mr Hollingworth, who cites Banksy as an inspiration.

He explained that his working method was: “Unplanned, unstructured, no strategy, but it seems to work.”

Mr Hollingworth said Glastonbury’s “most notable piece” was painted the same year David Bowie died when he paired the festival founder with Ziggy Stardust – a design that took off and was seen throughout festival that year.

“I don’t think I’ll ever fit in,” he said, adding that Mr Eavis himself signed one of his creations.

Every year, the artist attends the festival and creates a giant piece of art to “grab people’s attention” as he walks through Greenfields.

He said this year’s mural “will be quite underground and will be related to one of the headliners.”