The Olympic Games in London will be here before too long, and the country has been obsessed with the games. Earlier this week, the Design Museum in London released its winners of the 'Design of the Year 2012' award, and the Olympic torch was the winner (http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2012/designs-of-the-year-2012). The Olympic torch was designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby. All of the winning designs in the different categories, including the torch, can be seen at the Design Museum until the beginning of July. In addition to this artwork, a series of posters to promote the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were unveiled to the public at the end of last year. These will be on display to the public during the Olympic games.
Martin Creed's poster (No. 1273) represents an extended winner's podium using the Olympic colours. Chris Ofili was inspired by runners and historical vases used to depict the ancient Olympic games for his poster, "For the unknown runner". Bridget Riley's poster of vibrantly-coloured stripes represents swimming lanes. Rachel Whiteread's poster depicts rings in the Olympic colours. Tracey Emin's poster (Birds 2012) shows inspiration and determination. Sarah Morris's poster shows a tribute to London's architecture reminiscent in the angles and shapes used in Big Ben. Patrick Brill's poster shows hand-written text.
These posters are on display at Tate Britain this year as part of a free London cultural festival. The 12-week arts festival in London will run at the same time as the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and other landmarks in the United Kingdom will also display public artwork during this event. The festival starts on June 21st and ends on September 9th, the last day of the Paralympic Games.
Many have criticised the posters and the artists. I do wish that more people had been involved in creating artwork for the games and wish that the public had been involved in selecting winning pieces, instead of selecting the well-known artists to commission artwork. I believe that the output had been better had the design and art community had been asked, as a whole, to create posters. I also think getting the public involved to select the best posters would have been a good idea. I'm not feeling impressed with the posters, overall.
More information about the posters and artists can be read here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2057576/London-2012-Olympics-Arty-posters-launched-Games.html
More information about the art festival can be read here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15596043
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