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London's street art alternative to the Cultural Olympiad

The canalside buildings by London's Olympic Park are festooned with street art. But will they survive the area's clean-up in the run-up to 2012?

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Homa Khaleeli
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 August 2011 20.30 BST
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Graffiti near the Olympic Park
Graffiti near the Olympic Park. But how long will it remain? Photograph: Matt Brown/Londonist.com

With exhibitions by David Hockney, Lucian Freud and Damien Hirst planned, the Cultural Olympiad – a celebration of arts running alongside the Olympic Games in London next year – is certainly ambitious. But when the cultural extravaganza is rolled out, the chaotic, bright and witty offerings of the street artists near the Olympic Park may be rolled over completely.

On the walls of buildings backing on to the Lee Navigation canal, graffiti artists have been quietly adding their own gritty contribution to public art for some time. Now monsters as large as houses, colourful tags and even the odd Olympic runner adorn the bricks and concrete slabs near the huge building site of the 2012 event. When the games begin, their offerings are likely to be cleaned away, but before they disappear completely, blogger Matt Brown at Londonist.com captured what we could soon be missing.

See more of the street art along the Lee at Londonist.com

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