Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the National Basketball Association, Hank Willis Thomas presented a new series of artworks in an exhibition titled The New Black Aesthetic. Coinciding with the NBA All-Star games in Cleveland, Ohio, Thomas’s new series was on view for four days only, 3-blocks from the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse at the Caxton Building. The topic of sports has long been a focal point for Thomas’s practice. Specifically, how identity, sports and politics interconnect. His work often examines the powerful presence sports has in history as well as today’s society. This exhibition includes six mixed media works and one large-scale stainless steel sculpture. “The New Black Aesthetic” takes its title from a 1989 essay of the same name by Trey Ellis where he describes the emergence of a new cultural identity influenced by the generation of African American athletes, artists and academics who found a way to thrive within mainstream American culture after centuries of exploitation and alienation. Ellis’ phrase refers to a movement, “the most exciting period” he’s ever known, of young Black artists who exist and thrive authentically in their entire complex cultural identity which “borrows and reassembles across both race and class lines.”

The National Basketball Association and sports across the world can also unite across both race and class lines. Many Black athletes have become cultural icons that unify across the sports, races, class and even national boundaries. With their awe inspiring creativity and athletic prowess, these athletes also have access to new spaces and platforms. Using photography, sculpture and mixed media, Thomas explores the impact of sports, its logos, and its icons on the American psyche.

Last fall, in celebration of the NBA’s 75 years, the NBA and Bleacher Report commissioned a lineup of talented, diverse artists from a range of disciplines to create original works of art inspired by the league. Thomas was one of the five artists who created an original work along with a set of artist editions and apparel inspired by their artworks. Thomas’ original work, That’s Game, reimagined the current NBA logo in jerseys from All-Star players throughout NBA history.

Thomas continued that exploration in “The New Black Aesthetic” with five additional icons who could equally be representative of the league shown alongside That’s Game. The mixed media works depict these legendary athletes from the NBA: Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Bill Russel, and (current NBA logo icon) Jerry West. Inspired by various quilt traditions in the African-American South, Thomas has a long history of working with unexpected fabrics, such as old striped prison uniforms, US flags and sports jerseys. By utilizing such materials, Thomas requires the viewer to consider the bodies who have historically donned these uniforms, addressing our visual systems and their role in perpetuating inequality. The mixed media works in this show are made of deconstructed basketball jerseys then reconstructed into silhouettes of celebrated athletes who are emblematic of the league and the culture that has developed out of their individual and collective impact on and off the court.

Thomas also presented a new, large-scale version of his well-known Liberty sculpture. In Liberty (reflection), Thomas creates a mirror-like, monumental, three-dimensional sculpture from a two-dimensional image inspiration. It is a continuation of Thomas’ Punctum series, based on Roland Barthes’ photographic theory of the punctum, which refers to the detail in an image that pierces or wounds the viewer, creating a direct relationship between them and the pictured object or person. Thomas uses this concept to select or reframe areas of images, which he then transforms into large-scale sculptures as part of his interest in popular culture, photographic history, and sports as a metaphor for individual and collective struggle.

The original inspiration photograph for Liberty (reflection) appeared in Life Magazine in 1986 and featured Meadowlark Lemon, Harlem Globetrotter No. 36, in front of the Statue of Liberty, spinning a basketball on his finger. Thomas started by creating a life-size sculpture of the moment from the arm of retired NBA All-Star Juwan Howard. The resulting work plays with the notion of cropping, isolation, and scale. Furthering this exploration of the moment, Liberty(reflection) is a larger-than-life version rendered in a polished finish so that the viewer finds themselves part of the work. Thomas’ Punctum series encourages us to contemplate framing itself: what is left in or out of a photograph, narrative, or account of a historical event, and why?