SYRACUSE, New York — Currently on display at the Everson Museum of Art, Hoop Dreams: Basketball and Contemporary Art celebrates and confronts the global multi-billion dollar basketball industry and its cultural cachet. The exhibition features the work of 17 emerging and mid-career artists/basketball enthusiasts. Most are BIPOC, just like 82% of NBA players.
The exhibition is divided into three sections. The first leans towards nostalgia and popular imagery. Treva Holmes’ “HoopDreams23,” an earworm trap about basketball, drugs, and gun violence, echoes throughout the space. A series of mosaic basketballs by Jason Middlebrook includes “1955 Syracuse Nats, World Champs” (2023), commemorating the Nationals, one of the NBA’s first teams.
A quilt by Michael C. Thorpe based on his elementary school “Rookie Card” (2020) and a crisp print of a player on a plain pink background by Nina Chanel Abney, “Two Years and Counting” (2018), converses with a 1957 Set of Topps team national basketball cards on display, with their single player focused formats.
The second section of the exhibition reflects on the commodification and cultural influence of professional basketball. A showcase of over $1,000 Nike Air shoes is a focal point for the surrounding artwork. Rashid Johnson’s embroidered jersey, titled ‘White People ‘Heart’ Me’ (2005), comically indicates how athletic prowess ostensibly blurs racial divisions. In contrast, Kota Ezawa’s “Brawl” digital animation depicts the infamous Courthouse Malice, a fight that spilled from the field into the stands during a 2004 Indiana Pacers game against the Detroit Pistons in the arena of the Pistons, training players and fans. being labeled rogue and the NBA enacting new safety rules for arena games.
Tackling gender disparity in basketball and sexism in hip-hop, Holly Bass’ satirical photographic quadriptych “NWBA” (2012) draws on images from Nike advertisements, posters and “old-school” music videos to address uninvited sexualization and criticism of women’s bodies. . The series draws attention to the NBA’s neglected (and underpaid) sister organization, the WNBA. Bass fashioned prosthetic buttocks out of basketballs and wore them while recreating iconic sports imagery, turning his back into something to pass around and score.
Near the cheeky Bass quartet are two solemn photographs of Hank Willis Thomas. “Basketball and Chain” (2003) and “And One” (2011) mix the pitfalls of basketball and African-American property slavery, characterizing professional sports and the physical and mental toll they take on players, of modern abuse of blacks.
Leading into the exhibition’s third section, which shines a spotlight on basketball and community, Nari Ward’s “STILL WE RISE” (2020) is a hopeful response to criticisms such as Thomas’s. The inspirational phrase, referencing Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise”, is spelled out in long, colorful laces draped from the wall.
In a lively finale, the Everson installed a partial basketball court with a small set of bleachers. The focal point of the half court is “Respect the Call” (2023) by Jason Middlebrook, an installation featuring 30 recycled basketball hoops. Turning HORSE inside a museum is a little naughty, which makes it even more fun.
Above the bleachers are championship-style banners of Cheryl Pope with relatable statements made by young New York basketball players. Some radiate confidence (“I feel like a leader”, 2017), while others reveal doubts and criticism (“I don’t make an effort”, 2016).
The final work of the exhibition, “The Park” (2018), is a video projected on a wall by Ari Marcopoulos. The video feels like hanging out in a park under the shade of a tree, watching a handful of people play a game of scooping. The effect is relaxing and reminds the viewer that despite the commercialism and culture of abundance in professional sports, and the associated race and class issues, basketball can still bring people together. It’s a humble conclusion to an exhibit that both celebrates and criticizes a game that has become a global mega-industry.
Hoop Dreams: Basketball and Contemporary Art continues at the Everson Museum of Art (401 Harrison Street, Syracuse, New York) through May 21. The exhibition was curated by Elizabeth Dunbar, Director and CEO of the museum.
