Basketball Rapture: New Sculpture by Adam Taye

By Glen Nelson

August 2010

I came across the work of Adam Taye this month. He was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Boise, Idaho. Taye now lives in Brooklyn, New York. He currently has a show at Kris Graves Projects in New York City called "Quorum" (see below for gallery hours and directions) now through August 14, 2010.

Like many of us in the Church, Taye grew up playing Church basketball. The sculptures in "Quorum" are the artist's way of making connections between religion, contemporary worship of athletes, and riffs on art history. In these tableaux, Taye takes figurines of famous NBA ballplayers and places them in poses from Old Master paintings. More of Taye's paintings and sculptures can be viewed on his website adamtaye.com

Here's an artist's statement about the works below, from the exhibition "Quorum": "I'm creating a visual language that analyzes the artifacts of self-determination, free agency, and self-fulfilling prophesy. Last year I was in three fantasy basketball leagues. I create objects to become part of the canon of apocrypha surrounding contemporary American religion."

"LeBron's Appeal", 2010

Wood, painted action figure, lamp

14" x 10" x 6"

"Bibby Rapture", 2009

Wood, painted action figure, lamp

14" x 10" x 4"

"Dwayne's Ascension", 2010

Wood, painted action figure, lamp

14" x 10" x 6"

"Marion's Rapture", 2009

Wood, painted action figure, lamp

14" x 10" x 4"

"The Return of the Prodigal Son (AI), 2010

Wood, painted action figure, lamp

14" x 10" x 4"

"Magic Resurrection (Jason Williams Returns)", 2010

Wood, painted action figure, lamp

14" x 10" x 6"

Here's more from the gallery about the show: "'Quorum', by Brooklyn artist Adam Taye explores parallels between religious asceticism and the  demi-deification of the modern athlete. Through tradition, dedication, and the repetition of Sisyphus-like tasks, athletes and saints are able to transcend ordinary existence and enter a higher state of consciousness, granting them visceral harmony with space and time. The athletes are forever frozen in their various moments of reckoning  within altars reminiscent of votive milagros, Cathedral niches, and depictions of religious rapture in art history."

The gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday 12-6 through August 14.  111 Front St gallery 224, Brooklyn, NY 11201