Athletes have been depicted in works of art for centuries. The well known sculpture of the discus thrower was created circa 450 B.C., for example, and Olympic competitors in ancient Greece were often painted on ceramics.

In the late 20th century, the addition of basketball to the modern Olympics, the expansion of the National Basketball Association, and the popularity of the NCAA Basketball Championships contributed to the globalization of the sport and increasing interest on the part of artists in the sport as a subject for their creative vision.

“In the Paint: Basketball in Contemporary Art” is a multimedia artistic collaboration between UConn’s two 2014 NCAA Championship basketball teams and the William Benton Museum of Art opening on Jan. 23 and continuing through March 29.

The exhibition includes works by painters, printmakers, photographers, and video and mixed media artists exhibited in major galleries in New York City, California, and Florida. It also features two paintings made last summer by members of the Huskies men’s and women’s teams by dipping basketballs in paint to create their original works of colorful abstract art.

“I took an art class in high school, but I would never consider myself an artist,” says center Phil Nolan ’16 (CLAS), of the men’s team, who wrote his name in large letters on the canvas. “I knew it was going to be fun painting with basketballs. It’s definitely fascinating. I’ll enjoy it, since my name is the biggest thing that will pop out on it. I just figured I should do something extra.”

Adds guard Moriah Jefferson ’16 (CLAS) of the women’s team, “It was a good team bonding experience. I think it shows how much the basketball program means to the University that they would reach out and ask us to do something like that. It’s an honor.”

Working with the dual championship basketball teams and celebrating their unique accomplishments is the kind of collaborative effort Benton director Nancy Stula says she is seeking across the University that will join art with academic pursuits, similar to the recent “CHEM 101” exhibition that explored the science of photography with the assistance of Challa Vijaya Kumar, professor of chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Paintings made by members of the Huskies men’s (left) and women’s basketball teams by dipping basketballs in paint to create original works of colorful abstract art, now on display at the Benton Museum. (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)

“We are open to collaborating with any department, just using the works of art as a launching pad,” Stula says. “This is a bona fide contemporary art exhibition with the unifying theme of basketball.”

Jeanne Ahern Mogayzel, manager of the Benton’s retail operations and visitor services, thought the student-athletes could create their own art in a manner similar to one made in 2013 by The Bean Team, a student organization that helps to promote art across the University through activities at the museum. The Bean Team threw darts at balloons filled with paint, exploding them on a canvas to create an abstract painting that now hangs framed in the museum lobby.

Jean Nihoul, assistant curator at the Benton who organized the exhibition, says the art assembled for “In the Paint” represents an exploration by artists of the concepts of performance, spectacle, gender, competition, branding, race, and class through basketball. The title of the exhibition comes from terminology that references the area from underneath the basket running from the baseline to the free-throw line that is often painted in a different color than the basketball court.

“The themes we try to touch upon are not things basketball fans always think about,” Nihoul says. “A lot of people really enjoy the game, but they don’t think about what comes before that: a player’s upbringing, their social and economic environment. For example, we have one very powerful photograph that depicts the Afghan women’s basketball team. I’m trying to tackle it from all different perspectives.”

Among the works on display:
• A digital chromogenic color print by Hank Willis Thomas, “And One, 2011” from his series “Strange Fruit,” of two players jumping for a ball under a noose. The work references lynching of African Americans, and the image series takes its name from the 1939 Billie Holiday song that protested racism.
• Andrew Kuo’s acrylic-on-linen painting “Tallboy” of Jeremy Lin of the Los Angeles Lakers pondering the multimedia creation “One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank” by Jeff Koons.
• Seriagraphs, a type of screenprinting, by Robert Indiana that served as models and designs for the court at the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center.
• Various UConn basketball memorabilia coordinated by Tim Tolokan, special assistant to the director of athletics, who is curator of the J. Robert Donnelly Husky Heritage Sports Museum.

Nihoul says some of the art may help museum visitors to better understand technical concepts of basketball. The video installation of Janet Biggs, in particular, places the viewer on the court as two players wrestle for control of the ball – former Husky NCAA champions Morgan Valley ’05 (SFS) and Maria Conlon ’04 (CLAS) in a one-on-one contest at Gampel Pavilion. The video first was exhibited at UConn’s Contemporary Art Galleries in 2004.

“It really gives viewers more of an opportunity to experience the game from the player’s point of view,” Nihoul says.

The Huskies whose work will be displayed in the Benton hope fans who visit the museum will leave with a new perspective on the game.

“People don’t look at basketball that way,” says All-American Breanna Stewart ’16 (CLAS) of the women’s team. “The fact that you can have art through basketball and create some kind of canvas is kind of cool.”

The Salon at the Benton series will feature a panel titled “Hoop Dreams” on Friday, March 27 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

“In the Paint: Basketball in Contemporary Art” will be on display from Jan. 23 through March 29, along with “Sweet Sensations: Inspired by the 2015 UConn Reads Book Selection, The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” at the Benton Museum of Art, 245 Glenbrook Road, Storrs. For more information, go to the Benton’s website.