Usain Bolt depicted in art by Lee Jones

March 18, 2009

bolt Triple Olympic gold medallist, and Jamaica’s world 100 metres record holder Usain Bolt, continues to take the world of athletics by storm.

Recently crowned Jamaican sportsman of the Year, Bolt won the Olympic Development 400m and 200m at the National Stadium of Kingston, Jamaica on 21 February. Bolt made history at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 when he became the first man to win the Olympic sprint double and set two world records in the process. He set a trail blazing time of 19.30 seconds in the 200 meters, and went on to run the 100m in 9.69 seconds, overtaking Michael Johnson’s 1996 record by two hundredths of a second. Bolt won three gold Olympic medals in Beijing – 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m – and all this at the tender age of 21!

Artist Lee Jones has depicted Usain Bolt for his ‘Beyond Human’ series, hyper-real paintings of elite athletes with the most finely tuned parts of the body morphing into Terminator-esque limbs. Jones captures Bolt’s trademark wide grin on canvas, with the stadium spectators becoming a blur in the background as Bolt sprints jubilantly over the finish line. Jones gives Bolt a pair of muscular gold legs, symbolising the sheer power and physicality of this unparalleled runner. Michael Johnson, whose world record Usain Bolt beat at the Olympics, described Bolt as “Superman 2 – incredible”. Indeed Lee Jones’s hyper-real painting of Bolt shows him as a kind of Superman of the track.

‘Beyond Human’ is a unique collaboration between a carefully selected group of Olympic medallists and elite Sport superstars, and top international artist Lee Jones. The series is endorsed with the creative input of each Sportsperson, and will be exhibited in a 2050Sports.com exhibition ‘Beyond Human’ at The Arts Club in Mayfair from 3-7 April. The exhibition will include paintings and limited edition signed prints of; Olympic cycling triple gold medallist Chris Hoy; England and Premier League footballer Steven Gerrard, Olympic cycling gold medallist and World Champion Victoria Pendleton; Commonwealth, World & Olympic champion sprinter Christine Ohuruogu; leading international Freerunner Daniel Ilabaca, and World champion boxer Ricky Hattton.

I was honoured when the artist wanted to include me in his ‘Beyond Human’ series, and I’m extremely pleased and flattered with the finished painting.
Sir Chris Hoy

Highly collectable limited edition prints of each painting, signed by the artist and athlete, are available on www.2050 Sports.com, with a percentage of all sales going to the nominated charity of each athlete.

I am a huge sports fan and I am inspired by the way top athletes finely tune their bodies to the point that they become almost superhuman.
Lee Jones

Lee Jones is an award-winning Liverpool based artist who was based for a period in a Hollywood studio, where his creative output included designing jewellery for clients such as Madonna and James Woods. Collectors of Jones’s work include Radiohead and My Chemical Romance. Jones is also a talented graffiti artist whose commissions include the redesign and rebranding of the ‘Renegade Ducati’ Superbike team and set design for rock stars Oasis. Jones’s childhood influences of comic strips, Manga and Pop Art are evident alongside more recent influences of Freud, Warhol, Rosenquist and Rego.