SYRACUSE, New York — Currently on view at the Everson Museum of Art, Hoop Dreams: Basketball and Contemporary Art celebrates and confronts the multibillion-dollar global basketball industry and its cultural cachet. The exhibition features the work of 17 emerging and mid-career artists/basketball fans. Most are BIPOC, as are 82% of NBA players.
The exhibition is divided into three sections. The first leans into nostalgia and popular imagery. “HoopDreams23” by Treva Holmes, a trap earworm about basketball, drugs, and gun violence, resonates throughout the space. A series of mosaic basketballs by Jason Middlebrook includes “1955 Syracuse Nats, World Champs” (2023), commemorating the Nationals, an early NBA team.
