Tokyo 2020: Renowned artists to create poster artwork

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) announced on Tuesday that renowned Japanese and overseas artists have been selected to produce works of art encapsulating themes from the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

These will be featured in posters depicting the Tokyo 2020 spirit and vision, part of a programme all host cities are required to implement aimed at building awareness of and momentum towards the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

As part of the selection process, an Artist Selection Committee was formed comprising senior figures from the worlds of art, culture and design. The Chairman of the Artist Selection Committee is Masanori Aoyagi, Chairman of the Tokyo 2020 Culture and Education Commission.

The Committee has selected the artists to produce artwork in liaison with the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage, and these will be produced in poster form by the end of the year.

They will be displayed at exhibitions in public spaces and will feature on licensed products from the beginning of 2020 with the aim of raising awareness of the approaching Tokyo 2020 Games.

The participating artists and designers include famous Japanese manga artists and calligraphers, a number of leading young figures from the Japanese art world and other famous Japanese artists, designers and photographers. They also include four overseas artists who have won numerous awards in Japan and overseas.

The participant artists for the Paralympic Games are:

Hirohiko Araki, Manga Artist

Goo Choki Par, Graphic Designer

Koji Kakinuma, Calligrapher

Chihiro Mori, Artist

Mika Ninagawa, Photographer, Film Director

Tomoyuki Shinki, Artist

Asao Tokolo, Artist

Akira Yamaguchi, Painter

About Official Art Posters

Since the early 20th century, posters have been created by Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs) to promote and advertise this major sporting and cultural event. With their broad popular appeal and bold, easily recognisable imagery, Olympic posters continue to capture the international imagination and help establish each Games’ specific look and feel.

Some OCOGs have commissioned internationally renowned artists and designers to create highly individualistic posters and to leave a powerful legacy forever associated with a specific edition of the Olympic. Many of these art posters have become artistic and cultural icons.

More recently, Paralympic posters have been specifically created for each Paralympic Games.