Going Hard in the Paint
The joy and prowess within basketball-themed artwork
I know, we’re in the thick of the World Cup, and the USMNT is actually doing well; but us New Yorkers are pretty satiated with our victorious Knickerbockers of the National Basketball Association. To be fair, the U.S.A is not good enough to win a soccer trophy (yet), but it’s nice to see the efforts of youth soccer in this country paying dividends. I do believe that the team is putting themselves in a good position to be champions sooner than later.
Speaking of molding a winning team, the New York Knicks are the reigning NBA champions (after a fifty-three year drought), because of great on and off court development. The team’s front office went out and got the right players, who not only play well, but are known for nurturing excellent personal relationships with their teammates. Their selflessness and camaraderie is a large part of why the team has taken the league and city by storm.
Truly, the Knicks’ journey to win the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy has been a wide source of inspiration. The city was absolutely full of aspiration and good vibes during their entire road to victory. New York City has witnessed so many memorable professional sports championships, but the 2026 Knicks are easily among the top five.
The amount of Knicks fandom and fervor coming from the artist community might seem a bit unexpected to non-artists. However, when you look at the art historical connection between basketball and visual art, there are ample examples of artwork that references the game.
To tip-off (pun intended) my concise discussion of basketball related artwork, are Tom Sanford’s whimsical caricatures of the New York Knicks. Sanford is probably the most visible Knicks fan in the entire art scene. In fact, aside from Spike Lee, Sanford is the next most synonymous person that comes to mind when thinking about the Knicks’ connection to the creative community.
Sanford’s stylized, life-sized cutouts of current and former Knicks players were the visual centerpiece of the 2026 championship berth. They were acquired by City Hall, where they remained on display throughout the playoffs. After the Knicks clinched their game five victory against the Spurs, Sanford’s imagery was paraded throughout the city. One notable display aside from City Hall, has been reproductions wrapped around some of the sanitation department’s garbage trucks.
While Sanford’s basketball cutouts represent pure joy, other works of art utilize basketball as a symbol to address social concerns. David Hammons has incorporated basketball hoops and other game-related objects in his installations, as an allegory for human struggle and the lived experiences of marginalized communities.
Higher Goals was a site-specific artwork installed in Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza Park over a period of eight weeks in April of 1986. It consisted of stylized basketball hoops, made from telephone poles adorned with motifs of colorful bottle caps. At twenty and thirty feet tall, these hoops are ten to twenty-feet higher than the official NBA hoops. The larger than official height is a choice to express the process aspiring athletes endure, and the confrontation they have with failure. Hammons explains that, “It takes five to play on a team, but there are thousands who want to play—not everyone will make it, but even if they don’t at least they tried.”
Although the towering installation appears daunting at first glance, the bold concepts in Hammons’ artwork typically have the opposite intent, which is to inspire viewers to believe in themselves, and set their sights on higher goals than what they perceive (or are told) is their limit.
There are so many more excellent examples of basketball related works of contemporary art, including Titus Kaphar’s Ascension (2016), Esmaa Mohamoud’s Heavy, Heavy (Hoop Dreams) (2016) and Hank Willis Thomas’ And One (2011).
Lastly, because this is a publication about the wonders of working out, there’s a video of Knicks super-star, Jalen Brunson going through a typical strength and conditioning routine, which you can watch here. Notice that one of the exercises includes stair climbs, which I wrote about in my previous post. Overall, Brunson performs a series of compound movements that help him stay limber, powerful and durable during games.
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