Court Vision
Dunk Comp, Robert Otto Epstein, Inga Guzyte, Honorroller, Jeremy John Kaplan, Sam Keller, Billy Kheel,
Boy Kong, Todd Midler, Tom Sanford, Brett Skoonz, Jake Sheiner, and Bradley Ward
June 11 - July 24, 2021

In celebration of playoff basketball’s return to New York City, my pet ram is pleased to present its hoops-influenced inaugural exhibition, Court Vision, featuring work by Dunk Comp, Robert Otto Epstein, Inga Guzyte, Honorroller, Jeremy John Kaplan, Sam Keller, Billy Kheel, Boy Kong, Todd Midler, Tom Sanford, Brett Skoonz, Jake Sheiner, and Bradley Ward.

Artistic practice meets athletic in this gallery that teams up artists whose works basketball underpins and informs. Court Vision invites viewers to reflect at the intersection of culture, fashion and race, in an homage to one of the world’s most cross-cultural sports. Like the century-old game that inspired them, the works in Court Vision embody play and, at the same time, cultural complications. The various subjects also playfully nod to the rise of spectatorship, along with the commercialization of sport.

Tom Sanford’s work juxtaposes basketball icons and historical moments, telegraphing humorous and often unflattering depictions of modern American life, refracted through the lens of sport. Sanford’s Clyde Frazier winks at and invites viewers to consider the dream world of athletic glamour and success. Inga Guzyte fuses sneaker culture with skateboarding, transforming deconstructed skateboards into sculptural woodworked portraits of classic shoe silhouettes. Included in the show is her vibrant recreation of the Air Jordan, a shoe that represents not only one of basketball’s most celebrated athletes but also its most commercial. Billy Kheel, while also using humor in his work, uses basketball to backlight concepts of modern masculinity. Also on exhibit will be his technicolor soft-sculpture interpretation of Reggie Miller’s infamous “choke” taunt toward Spike Lee, forever remembered for inextricably linking the theater of athlete and spectator. While Bradley Ward highlights the oft-unseen interstice of black life, between leisure and labor, as they relate to marketability of the black experience. Ward’s Baptism, on display, posterizes the multidimensionality of race and the ceremony of the dunk.

Aptly taking place in New York City, the Mecca of Basketball, Court Vision will be on view through July 24th, 2021. The gallery is located at 48 Hester Street in New York, NY. Please email info@mypetram.com for more information.