LOS ANGELES -- Fifteen American artists, including Roy Lichtenstein and David Hockney, have been commissioned to design official 1984 Olympic posters, it was announced Wednesday.
Other noted contemporary American artists chosen to work on the Games posoters were Carlos Almaraz, John Baldessari, Jennifer Bartlett, Lynda Benglis, Billy Al Bengston, Jonathan Borofsky, Richard Diebenkorn, Sam Francis, April Grieman, Jayme Odgers, Martin Puryear, Robert Rauschenberg, Raymond Saunders and Garry Winogrand.
'Our posters will further the Olympic philosophy of greater global understanding through the universal language of art,' said Peter Ueberroth, president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.
The LAOOC vice president of Olympic Arts, Robert Fitzpatrick, said the addition of the artists to the Games would be in keeping with the frugal and mostly privately funded Los Angeles Olympics.
'These artists are virtually donating their time and talent to create the 1984 Olympic art posters and we at the LAOOC consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have such a distinguished group of internationally renowned American artists working together on this project,' Fitzpatrick said.
Money received from the poster sales, which willbe published by Knapp Communications Corp. and will be marketed worldwide, is earmarked for other Olympic art programs, a spokesman said.
The art work is expected to be completed within the next six weeks and the posters should be ready for distribution early in 1983, officials said.
In another Olympic development, groundbreaking ceremonies were held at the Los Angeles Coliseum, site of the track and field events and opening and closing ceremonies for the 1984 Games. The Coliseum will undergo extensive refurbishing for the Olympics including installation of a new track.
Mayor Tom Bradley and LAOOC officials participated in Wednesday's groundbreaking ceremonies.
