Painting the Olympic Flame
since 1992.
Olympian Artist-in-Residence · First-Ever Olympic Agora · Tokyo
Six large-format paintings for the Olympic Agora.
Gregory Burns was selected as one of six Olympian and Paralympian Artists-in-Residence for the first-ever Olympic Agora — a cultural program orchestrated by the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH), running from 1 July to 15 August 2021 in Tokyo's historic Nihonbashi district. In tribute to the Japanese noren — the traditional fabric curtains hung in shop and temple entrances — each artist contributed a series of large-format panel works. Gregory's six screens, each measuring 53 inches high by 128 inches wide, were installed in the Mitsukoshi-mae underground passageway at the heart of Tokyo.
Athlete's Journey Tokyo · 60×60in · Mixed Media on Canvas · IOC Museum collection, Lausanne, Switzerland
Thank You Tokyo · IOC Commission
A painting enters the IOC Museum.
In 2022, the International Olympic Committee staged the "Thank You Tokyo" event — a global celebration to honor Tokyo and its citizens for hosting the 2020 Games. Gregory was invited to create a live painting during the event: a 5×5ft canvas built in real time, in front of an audience, capturing the energy and legacy of the Games.
The resulting work — Athlete's Journey Tokyo — was accepted into the permanent collection of the IOC Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. It joins a collection that holds the most significant artefacts in the history of world sport.
Gregory completing the LA28 mural live · Hollywood, California · February 2025 · 48×144in
LA28 Olympic Partners Event · Hollywood
A 4×12ft mural. 240 guests. Three hours. Live.
In February 2025, Gregory was invited by the LA28 Organizing Committee to create a live mural at the LA28 Olympic Partners Event in Hollywood, California — one of the most significant gatherings of Olympic sponsors and stakeholders in the lead-up to the 2028 Games.
Over three hours, in front of 240 guests drawn from the world's leading brands and institutions, Gregory painted a 4×12-foot canvas — building the work from scratch, in real time, as the event unfolded around him.
Athlete's Journey · 53×128in · Digital Painting · Olympic Agora Series · Tokyo 2020–2021
Los Angeles · The Next Chapter
What comes next.
For brands, broadcasters, and institutions seeking a collaborator whose connection to the Games is not manufactured — Gregory Burns is that person. Thirty-five years inside elite sport. Three Olympic commissions. Two gold medals. One painter.
The Los Angeles Games arrive in 2028. The conversation starts here.
2016 · United States Sports Academy
Sports Artist of the Year
Gregory was named Sports Artist of the Year by the United States Sports Academy in 2016. He paints sport from the inside out — three Paralympic Games as an athlete, four decades as a painter. Gestural, physical, decisive: the same full-body commitment on canvas as in competition.
2016 Sports Artist of the Year · United States Sports Academy
Museum & Institutional Holdings
In Permanent Collections
Lausanne · Switzerland
IOC Museum · International Olympic Committee
Athlete's Journey Tokyo (60×60in, 2022) acquired following Gregory's commission as Official Artist in Residence at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Permanent collection.
Daphne, Alabama · United States
American Sport Art Museum and Archives
Named 2016 Sports Artist of the Year by the United States Sports Academy. Works held in the permanent collection of its museum, the American Sport Art Museum and Archives.
For Brands, Partners & Organizations
Start a conversation
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See It Live
Watch on YouTube → · Gregory Burns · Live Mural · LA28 Partner Event · Hollywood, February 2025