Painter’s boyhood dream comes true (From Swindon Advertiser)

Painter’s boyhood dream comes true

4:58pm Tuesday 14th February 2012 in News

SWINDON artist Ken White is to fulfil a boyhood ambition for the second time by exhibiting a collection of his industrial paintings in London.

Ken, 68, who designed the Scarlet Lady logo that adorns the nose of Virgin Atlantic jets, is showing 40 oil-on-canvas paintings at the Panter and Hall Gallery, in St James’.

The one-man exhibition, entitled Grafters, which takes place from February 29 to March 16, focuses on England’s industrial past, including some scenes of the Swindon Railway Works.

Ken, who also painted the murals around Swindon, said he had exhibited at various places over the years, but this was only the second time he had shown work in London.

He said: “It’s amazing. It’s the sort of thing you dream about when you are younger, an exhibition in London.

“I’m getting there with my ambitions in life, because you always have this ambition when you are younger and it would be amazing to have an exhibition because London is the best place to have it.

“And it’s a lot more money in London of course, people pay a lot more up there for pictures.”

Ken, who paints regularly in a studio at his home in The Mall, Old Town, said he was approached by the gallery’s co-owner Matthew Hall, when was showing work in Devizes about two years ago.

The grandfather-of-two said he was inspired by the Swindon Railway Works, where he started to work at the age of 15, first as a rivet hotter and then as a signwriter before becoming an independent artist.

He said: “The paintings at the exhibition are just men in the streets, women as well sometimes, but most of it is men lounging around in caps with factory chimneys in the background.

“It’s always industrial-looking towns. That’s how I remember Swindon used to be when I grew up.

“A lot of people think my paintings are of the north but Swindon was quite like that.

“It was quite industrial when I was young. It was lots of men on bikes going to work and the factory chimneys and the trains and the smoke.”

The paintings at the exhibition, which were all created during the last two years, will be available to buy. Prints will also be available.

The e-catalogue is available at www.panterandhall.com/ebooks/ken-white/grafters.