In terms of World Cup swag, we’ve seen everything from artist-edition track jackets to soccer ball–shaped ice-cube makers. For those with more highbrow tastes, there’s the Official Art Poster Edition, a series of 17 prints, commissioned by FIFA to promote next month’s South African games. The first edition of its kind debuted in 2006, with entries by contemporary artists like Andreas Gursky and Sarah Morris. This year’s set pays homage to the Cup’s host country with nearly a dozen prints by artists born or living on the African continent. Published by BrandsUnited, an official FIFA licenser, and available from David Krut in New York and South Africa, 2,010 of each are available.
William Kentridge
Bicycle Kick, 2009
The Johannesburg-based artist used his signature charcoal-on-found-pages technique to depict a player in mid-kick.
Kay Hassan
Swanker Ball, 2009
A reproduction of a giclee print by the renowned South African photographer.
Barthélémy Toguo
Color Your Life, 2008
With its suit of clubs, this painting by the Camaroonian-born artist belongs to series of abstracted playing cards Toguo created throughout 2008.
Zhong Biao
Football Miracle, 2009
The famed Chinese artist, whose painting depicts a perfectly executed bicycle kick, originally created a canvas 7 feet high in his Beijing studio.
Hassan Musa
The Good Game, 2008
The Sudanese-born artist, exiled in the South of France, created an embroidery work on cloth, transforming the biblical scene of Jacob battling the archangel into an allegory of the match.
Julie Mehretu
Stadia II, 2004
The Ethiopian-born, Berlin-based artist--whose densely layered paintings are currently on view at New York’s Goldman Sachs headquarters as well as the city’s Guggenheim museum--is the only artist who did not create a work especially for the edition.
Isolde Krams
Red Elephant, 2009
A cast-latex elephant, gripping a ball and grass in its trunk, by the South African-born, German-based sculptor.
Yamaguchi Akira
Shoo(t) Q Taro and Ten Braves, 2009
The much-hyped Japanese artist based his submission on Q-Taro, a famous manga character from the 1960s.
Kendell Geers
Free Balling, 2008
The controversial South African conceptual artist rose to fame at the 1993 Venice Biennale, when he urinated in Marcel Duchamp's Fountain. For FIFA, he created a muddy collage of soccer balls.
Marlene Dumas
World Cup SA 2010, 2009
The Dutch-based, South African–born artist created a watercolor on paper homage to the emotions of the footballer.
Lilanga Art
Celebrations, 2009
Lilanga Art is the name of a Tanzanian art collective consisting of the sons and descendants of the Keith Haring–influenced artist George Lilanga, who died in 2005.
Robert Slingsby
The Midas Touch, 2008
The South African artist turns the game on its head, literally.
Cameron Platter
The Battle of 2010, 2008
The emerging South African artist scaled back his often vivid color palette for a muted portrait of the game.
Peter Eastman
Stadium, 2009
Nighttime stadium view by the UK-born, South African–based artist.