Local artist sets sights on Guinness World Record for ‘largest indoor mural’

If you’ve been inside Raxx Bar and Grill, you’ve likely noticed something beyond the pool tables, bar, live music, and general revelry – a giant mural covering the walls and enticing the viewer to look closer.

In fact, that mural covers nearly 20,000 square feet of area. It was started over a decade ago by local artist Shane Goudreau, and, at the time, Goudreau wasn’t planning on such a large installment.

“It was originally just a small project hired by Molson Canadian,” Goudreau said.

“The owner loved what he saw and he decided he would like to continue. So it has been an ongoing project.”

The mural has progressed with Goudreau working on it a for “a few weeks here, and a few months there,” so it’s difficult for him to say how many hours he’s devoted to the piece, or how long it’s actually taken. He estimates that, if he were to have worked on the mural every day, it would have taken 12 to 14 months to complete.

Although the mural has been complete for some time now, Goudreau has returned to the project recently when Raxx underwent some renovations. At the same time, Goudreau was doing some research online about some of the world’s largest paintings. That’s when he made a discovery.

“I typed in ‘world’s largest indoor mural’ and found that I had in fact nearly doubled that record with what I created at Raxx,” he said.

Currently, the Guinness World Record for ‘largest indoor mural’ is held by Aasutosh Panigrahi, who was the team leader of six artists who painted a mural depicting a landscape at Shyam Vatika, Saraswati Estate, in Cimmco Tiraha, Gwalior, India. He and five other painters completed the mural between February 27 and March 5, 2005.

And it measures 9,731 square feet – approximately just less than half the size of Goudreau’s mural at Raxx.

“So today I decided to challenge the current world record holder for largest indoor mural,” Goudreau posted on Facebook on Sunday, Jul. 15, 2018.

“I applied today. It could take several weeks and I have to find a certified surveyor, but I think it’s worth giving [it] a shot.”

Since then, Goudreau has been connecting with local surveyors to get the official size of the mural he’s created in Raxx. It may be a while before Guinness verifies the size and Goudreau knows whether or not the title will go to him – and there are some reports internationally that the current record holder is working on an even larger mural, so it will be a tight race to see if Panigrahi’s claim holds up – but it looks like Goudreau is well on his way to holding the record for ‘world’s largest indoor mural’ for a piece right here in Kingston.

Goudreau is known for his larger than life paintings, and his unique style, which is comprised of multi-layered, multi-medium techniques.

“Most of my work is done with paint brushes. I use brush work to lay in a base and create most of my imagery, and then I use a bit of air brush to drag portions of colour into the foreground and fraction light in areas I feel need it,” he explained.

Stop by Raxx to check out Goudreau’s mural and maybe play some pool, watch some live music, have a bite to eat, or grab a drink while you’re there.

To find out more about Shane Goudreau and his work, visit www.shanegoudreauart.com, and stay tuned for more news on the Guinness World Record as it becomes available.