A whale tail in Stratford station

There is what looks superficially like an advert for a holiday company at Stratford station, but in fact, it’s art.

The giant whale’s tail is an artwork by Ahmet Öğüt.

The confusion comes largely from its placement, as most people will see it from the concourse by the Jubilee line, and from below, and being about the same size as a poster advert – it really does look like just that.

It could be an advert for a holiday firm, or some planet burning company trying to burnish its eco-credentials. Anything but a work of art. Even up close, it’s still not really clear what’s going on, and it’s only if you read the panels on the other side of the DLR entrance that it becomes apparent.

The whale is a reference to an accident in 2020 when a train on a viaduct overran and ended up perched on top of a whale sculpture.

The artist, working on the premise that art can save lives recently put out a call for stories, and one has now been printed next to the artist’s painted whale.

It’s just not that good art frankly. For me at least, art needs to be obviously art, and this one, maybe because it’s an advertising poster-sized painting, just doesn’t look like art. And writing up a story told to you by someone else doesn’t seem like a particularly creative process either.

The Art of the Underground project is usually better than this, but in its defence, it’s good that they tried something a bit different, even if it doesn’t always work.

So if you walk through Stratford station and wonder what company the whale’s tail is advertising, it’s art.