Watch London get painted into a masterpiece before your eyes…
Are you always the first to know about Banksy’s latest piece? Are a graff-enthusiast, a street-art superfan, or simply a lover of art? If so, 2020 could still be great year for you, as the first ever London Mural Festival has just begun. (Featured image: ‘Oso’ by Okuda San Miguel, photographed by Toa Heftiba)
The London Mural Festival – which was originally announced a year ago, and appears in spite of the pandemic – will run a two-week programme of activities, starting on September 1. Some 50 sites across town will see new murals created, including Wembley Park, King’s Cross, Holborn, Crystal Palace, Canary Wharf, Camden, Hackney Wick, and Tottenham.
Further planned activities, including from talks, workshops and film screenings, have presumably been scaled back in the wake of the pandemic. Still, the main draw is that London will become a vast canvas, onto which at least 20 brand new, large-scale murals will be painted.
The culmination of the festival will see 100 artists participate in a “hoarding jam” (decorating a stretch of hoarding at once, for those not au fait with the lingo) out in Stratford on the weekend of October 3 & 4. Festival organisers promise that any walls painted during the festival will remain unbranded – anyone who’s been to Camden in the past year can surely testify to the creeping commercialisation of street art – and express the wish that most of the murals will stay “for many years to come”.
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You may have already spotted some amazing murals around the city over the years, from the giant David Attenborough mural in Bethnal Green, to the suspiciously Banksy-esque mural in Marble Arch. A visit to the David Bowie mural in Brixton is even regarded as one of the best free things to do in London by yours truly.
The festival will showcase art from local, national and international talent, with confirmed artists including:
Ben Eine
Camille Walala
Dale Grimshaw
Fanakapan
Gary Stranger
Mr. Doodle
Mr. Cenz
Pref
Seb Lester
You can find out more about the London Mural Festival on their website.