Swimming

Swimming, like Welcome and The Road To Rio, represents Hodgkin’s engagement with the world of agonistic sports. The print, produced by King and McGaw in New Heaven, was made in preparation to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games held in London. For the event, twelve distinguished British artists of the calibre of Bridget Riley, Tracey Emin and of course Hodgkin were asked to each create a poster that could emblematise the spirit of the game coming to London. While some artists, like Anthea Hamilton and Rachel Whiteread, chose to schematically re-invent the famous Olympic symbol, others like Emin dedicated words of admiration to the Olympians, notoriously writing “you inspire me with your determination and I love you”, Hodgkin, as typical of his practice, decided to focus instead on abstraction and colour. The result, Swimming, is an incredibly enchanting whirlwind of fluid painterly marks that beautifully pay homage to the sport.