Official Paralympic Posters for London 2012 by UK’s Top Artists Unveiled

04 Nov 2011

London 2012 poster "Big Ben" by Sarah Morris

The original poster created by Sarah Morris for the promotion of the 2012 Paralympic Games.

ⒸGetty Images

"We are delighted that British artists have produced such compelling images in response to the Paralympic Games."

A collection of specially commissioned images by six of the UK’s leading artists to celebrate the London 2012 Paralympic Games were unveiled today (4 November).

The artists are:

Paralympic Posters

• Fiona Banner

• Michael Craig-Martin

• Tracey Emin

• Gary Hume

• Sarah Morris

• Bob and Roberta Smith

From today, members of the public will be able to buy copies of the images as both posters and limited edition prints. The images will go on show at Tate Britain in a free exhibition as part of the London 2012 Festival in the summer of 2012. The images will also be featured as part of a high profile campaign to promote the London 2012 Games.

LOCOG worked with Tate and the Plus Tate Group (a group of 19 regional galleries across the UK), who together compiled a long list of over 100 artists for consideration. This long list was then reduced to a final list of 12 by a panel comprising Nicholas Serota (Tate Director), Tamsin Dillon (Head of Art on the Underground), Judith Nesbitt (Tate - Head of National/International Initiatives), Carl Freedman (Counter Editions) Ruth Mackenzie (Director, Cultural Olympiad & London 2012 Festival) and Greg Nugent (LOCOG Director of Brand and Marketing ).

The primary objective of the panel was artistic excellence and some of the UK’s greatest artists have been commissioned (four of the chosen artists have previously won the Turner Prize and five have represented the UK at the Venice Biennale). The brief for the artists encouraged them to celebrate the Games coming to London and to look at the values of the Paralympic Games. Each image is a distinct interpretation of either the Paralympic Games by the individual artists and the diversity of the series demonstrates the extraordinary creative talent that exists within the UK. The individual images are each described below.

Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate, said: "We are delighted that British artists have produced such compelling images in response to the Paralympic Games."

A set of the images has been given to the Queen for the Royal Collection and to other important British art collections, including the Government Art Collection (which will be displaying the images in 10 Downing St in 2012) and the British Council (which is planning on exhibiting the images across China in 2012 as part of 'UK Now', the largest festival of British arts ever to be shown in China, as well as displaying the posters in British Council’s across the world).

The images will also be available to buy as both posters and limited edition prints from 15.00 GMT today. The posters (at a cost of £7) and a small number of limited edition prints will be available to order on the London 2012 online shop. The limited edition prints will also be for sale individually and as a special boxed set from Counter Editions, the publisher of the prints, who can be contacted on london2012@countereditions.com and on 0207 684 8888.