Divers

Location

Country: Japan
City: Tokyo
Place: British Embassy

Anthea Hamilton’s signature motif is a cut-out leg, modelled on her own. For this print, commissioned for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in London, she uses this graphic and very feminine silhouette – suggestive of saucy pin-up girls – to assert a tactile and female presence into her work which mainly takes the form of sculptural installations. In this print, the legs are upside down under the Olympic Rings in a swimming pool. This particular pose suggests synchronised swimming – the only Olympic sport exclusively contested by women. This work is part of a set of limited-edition prints, commissioned from some of the UK’s most critically acclaimed artists to celebrate London hosting the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics. A set of these prints was presented to the Government Art Collection.

 

Hamilton is known for her sculptural installations, which she describes as ‘performative spaces’ into which she asserts a bodily presence. Using a model of her own legs, these surrealist-inspired tableaux can be read as an elaborate kind of self-portrait.  Her assemblages bring together a number of readymade and found objects, deftly combining a range of organic materials and textures.

Anthea Hamilton was born in 1978 in London, where she continues to live and work. She took over the Duveen Galleries for the Tate Britain Commission in 2018, showing sculptural works and performance. She has had solo exhibitions at Secession, Vienna, Austria (2018); The Hepworth Wakefield, UK (2016); The Serpentine Gallery, London (2016); and Glasgow International (2014). Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in various museums in Europe, the US and the UK. She was shortlisted for the Turner prize in 2016 and her work was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2019.

Places

Subjects

olympic games

Materials & Techniques

screenprint

Artist

Anthea Hamilton (1978 - )

Title

Divers

Portfolio Title

London 2012

Edition

HDC 2/10

Date

2011

Medium

Screenprint

Dimensions

height: 76.00 cm, width: 60.00 cm

Acquisition

Presented by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, October 2011

Inscription

verso, bl: 2/10 H.D.C. bc: "DIVERS" 2011 br: Anthea Hamilton

Provenance

London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (gift)

GAC number

18422/2