'Embracing the ideals of the Olympics': LA artist's powerful sculpture takes centre stage at Paris 2024

The Olympics are an experience like no other, with those lucky enough to be in the French capital seeing how art and culture intertwine with sporting greatness. Sitting alongside the Paris Olympic mascot, medal designs, Olympic logos and countless other artistic details is a sculpture called the ‘Salon’ by U.S. Artist Alison Saar. She chats to Creative Bloq about her first public foreign art project and what it means to create an Olympic piece representing the handing over of the games from Paris to L.A. 

“I think the initial request for submissions asked the artists to simply embrace the ideals of the Olympics. The idea that it's an opportunity for people from all over the world to come together to share their passion and learn from each other, so I was interested in that. I was also really interested in kind of looking at how the Olympics has grown in terms of being more focussed on equality, in terms of representing smaller countries, representing people of all races, and also how the world of sports has come to embrace women’s sports, taking them a bit more seriously.”

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Lauren John

Lauren John is a journalist, copywriter and creative, with a background in craft, and a growing list of creative hobbies. She’s had art and craft content published in an RSPB children’s magazine and on the Prima Website, also writing on outdoor photography for Reader’s Digest. Lauren enjoys working on content from all creative industries, flying the flag for musicians, bands, artists and authors, and shining a light on some of the issues they face. 

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