Hodgkin London 2012 Olympic Poster Unveiled

Swimming, the poster designed by Hodgkin for the London 2012 Olympic games was officially unveiled today.

12 leading British artists were invited to design the official London 2012 posters, including Bridget Riley, Michael Craig-Martin, Tracey Emin, Martin Creed, Gary Hume, Rachel Whiteread, Chris Ofili, Sarah Morris, Fiona Banner, Bob and Roberta Smith, and Anthea Hamilton.

The poster is published in a print run of 500,000 at £7.00 each from www.shop.london2012.com.

Jonathan Jones in the Guardian commented,

‘But to see Howard Hodgkin, grand old man of sensuous painters, reach into the deep blue to create a dreamlike metamorphosis of athlete and water, the diver and the pool, is beautiful. This is more poetry than mere poster.’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov/04/london-2012-olympic-posters-britart

‘Michael Craig-Martin’s is perhaps the most striking – vivid colour with a stark, exhilarating message. But for sheer visual pleasure and clarity, Howard Hodgkin’s Swimming, a tumble-turn captured in a few swathes of sumptuous blue, wins the day.’
Ben Luke, Evening Standard, 4 November 2011
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24006189-colour-is-the-real-winner-in-a-tricky-contest.do is

‘Blue Blob is New Olympics Poster’
Headline in the Sun, 4 November 2011

A special edition fine print is available from Counter Editions.

“Howard Hodgkin describes his paintings as representational pictures of emotional situations. For his Olympic print Hodgkin has created Swimming — a deep, swirling mass of blue flooding across the page. The fluidity of the brushstrokes perfectly captures the movement of water and the sensation of swimming.”

Printed by King and McGaw and published in a limited edition of 350, each print is numbered and dated and signed by Hodgkin himself. Each print involved 12 hand pulled colour silkscreens, using ground pigments from L. Cornelissen, light-fast Altramarine Blue Dark, Altramarine Blue Light and Cobalt Blue. They were further hand ground into the UV binder with a Srab and Muller and then applied to the print, layer by layer. The hand torn paper is 300gsm ‘Somerset’ white satin, mould-made, 100% cotton and acid free. Unframed price: £1,300; framed price: £1,500 (prices are inclusive of postage and packing costs when delivered within the UK).

All the designs will be on show in a free exhibition at Tate Britain during the London 2012 Festival which starts in June next year.

In 1984 Hodgkin designed  Welcome, the poster for the Winter Games in Sarajevo.

See the Hodgkin print on the Counter Editions website.

More information launch