Andrew Kuo's NBA Portraits!

Andrew Kuo, co-host of Cookies Hoops, a regular contributor to the New York Times and an artist who has exhibited frequently in New York and throughout the world, has been creating portraits of NBA players. Since March, he has rearranged his living room into a makeshift studio and adapted his practice into producing small works with limited supplies. 

"I began making a series of drawings and paintings on paper, all focused on describing my world inside my apartment. The months of quarantine during Covid have made space and materials valuable. Conversely, the hours to make artworks felt longer with no places to be or things to plan. It took the form of charts that ranked hourly thoughts, paintings of plants on my windowsill and drawings that slowly became a rough timeline made up of NBA players, from Patrick Ewing to Jeremy Lin to Mitchell Robinson."

"The therapy is in the act of painting, but also digging up old memories and placing them next to new ones. It’s a quiet but spontaneous feeling desperately trying to find a new energy—the portraits are meant to be fast and show the players at their best, but through the lens of not knowing what the world will look like tomorrow."

"Making the artworks available through Instagram is a new conversation. It has rearranged the way I think about what pictures are and who they’re for—to connect with a world that feels like it can float away at any moment. Make it and send it…. it’s all a thread."

Kuo’s latest series of NBA portraits are up now on his Instagram.