Putting the art into Walmart
"We did it our way" say Grennan and Sperandio

An art exhibition partly conceived in Frank Sinatra's favourite Italian restaurant in New York has been unveiled and is on the move around Swindon on a Thamesdown Transport double decker.

The bus and billboards, depicting local people, are decorated by large cartoons created by internationally known artists Simon Grennan, from Brighton, and New Yorker Christopher Sperandio.



They spent the early part of the year finding out about people's lives, and meeting Asda Walmart shoppers at the North Swindon District Centre before assembling their portraits.

Simon and Christopher exchanged ideas across the Atlantic electronically. But it was at a personal encounter that they came up with the billboard design.



"We knew we wanted to have our images travelling around on a bus, but we were in Gino's on the Upper East Side, where Sinatra liked to go, that we decided on the style for the billboards," said Simon. "They are very big pictures to be looked at from a distance, but you have to go in close to see the words on the cartoon strip."

The bus will be seen around Swindon for a year and the billboards will change every month. They can be seen in Walmart, and on the corner of County Road and Manchester Road and in Rod-bourne.



For details on the project funded by Asda Walmart, go to: www.swindonartscape.co.uk