Sunderland artist Frank Styles' stunning Taylor Swift Wembley tribute

The singer-songwriter kicks off three sold-out shows at the venue tomorrow, Friday, June 21, and will be back for a further five nights in August.

London is hosting more performances of the globetrotting Eras Tour than any other city in the world, with nearly 640,000 people expected to attend across the eight dates.

To mark the occasion, Frank has been commissioned to transform the staircase leading to the stadium into the Swiftie Steps, complete with ‘Auras’, a stunning anamorphic mural featuring a portrait of the star and a number of Easter eggs reflecting the highlights of her career.

He created the mural at his Sunderland studio over two weeks, compiling it digitally from more than 30 separate physical paintings, before it was printed out on vinyl strips to be fitted on site.

Frank enlisted the help of many local ‘Swifties’ to help decide which Easter eggs to include.

The main portrait was painted on the side of a garage. Created freehand in spray paint in four hours, it stands at just 8ft tall.

“It was very complicated to work out all the perspectives,” said Frank.

“Some of the steps have two perspective points, which is something I had not done before.

“You won’t get the whole picture until you’ve spent some time looking at it from different angles. This reflects the various emotions in Taylor Swifts music, you can’t understand them in one go, you need to take time to look at things from other perspectives. 

“I’ve used my new gradient reveal technique to produce some of the artwork for this mural.”

Frank has even managed to sneak a little personal touch into part of the mural. It shows a Polaroid camera and picture, in tribute to the photos the star took for her album 1989. And on the picture? Frank and wife Penella.

He visited the stadium to see the latest work unveiled, joining Mayor on London Sadiq Khan on the steps for a photo shoot, but now it is back to business: “They only had two weeks, so I had to drop everything I was working on and now I have got to catch up with quite a lot of jobs,” he said.

The one regret? Frank didn’t manage to bag a chance to see the show for himself: “I have just managed to ask if I can get a ticket but it was commissioned by Wembley Park, and that is separate from the stadium,” he said,

It is not the first time Frank’s work has featured on the Spanish Steps, which connect Wembley Arena to the stadium itself.

In 2020, his work One in Four saw him collaborate with charity Mind and Wembley Park to promote mental health awareness.