David Shrigley creates official edition in celebration of the Olympic Games

Goldsmiths alumni have helped celebrate the Rio 2016 Olympic Games by producing limited-edition prints marking Team GB’s involvement. Sarah Jones, Sam Taylor-Johnson,Tracey Emin, Anne Hardy, Howard Hodgkin, Eddie Peake, Benjamin Senior and David Shrigley have created official editions for the Olympic games. 

This year’s prints follow those in 2012, when four Goldsmiths alumni created official works for the London 2012 Games. This year's eight artists were asked to “create unique images in celebration of Rio and Brazil, with the spirit of Team GB as their inspiration”. The works are available from 2 August 2016 at the Counter Editions website.

Shrigley explains, “This was a curious commission, given the constraints that surround the Olympic symbol – namely, the fact that you’re not actually allowed to use it. Well, maybe you can’t make direct reference to the rings, but fine art is all about being oblique, so I decided to take the Olympic torch and turn it into an ice cream.

I like the notion of the Cultural Olympiad. Artists tend to be a bunch of non-sporty dweebs so it’s nice to be involved somehow. I did one or two things for the London Games. I think I designed some mugs or something. The Olympics is one of those things you just end up watching. I’m never enthusiastic to start with, but then I get hooked. The other week, I was watching that documentary about Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony and it took me back: 2012 was a big year for me too, as I had a huge show at the Hayward. But time goes past like an egg yolk down a plughole.”