ANN JOHNSON, “Egyptian Collar,” 2002 (blended media: beads, regulation aim and backboard, discovered objects, chain internet, 48 inches lengthy). | © Ann Johnson. Assortment of Elliot Perry, Memphis, Tenn.
THE FREIGHTED SYMBOLISM of basketball, its intrinsic connection to the Black group, and the weather used to play the game (ball, hoop, and internet) have impressed many artists working in a wide range of codecs, together with Nina Chanel Abney, Ernie Barnes, Awol Erizku, David Hammons, Hugh Hayden, Barkley L. Hendricks, David Huffman, and Ann Johnson (under left).
A multidisciplinary artist and educator, Johnson was born in London, grew up in Cheyenne, Wyo., and lives and works in Houston, Texas. She earned an MFA from The Academy of Artwork College in San Francisco and co-founded the printmaking group PrintHouston (previously PrintMatters). Her work was included within the Texas Biennial in 2013 and 2021. For 30 years, Johnson has been on college at her undergraduate alma mater, Prairie View A&M College, the HBCU the place she teaches merchandising and design.
Early in her instructing profession, Johnson started adorning discarded basketball hoops with Mardi Gras beads making works that mirrored a typical narrative she encountered on campus. Lots of her male college students had outsized goals of creating it within the NBA and gaining fame and riches like Michael Jordan. The 1994 film Hoop Desires was launched across the similar time. “The struggles and the stress,” Johnson informed KQED, the Northern California public media outlet, “that’s what I wished to discover.”
“Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It” on the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco is Johnson’s first solo present on the West Coast. The exhibition explores the intersection of artwork, sports activities, and tradition. Embellished basketball hoops are on view, evocative works referencing themes of group, heritage, greater objectives, materialism, and goals deferred.
The works draw on cultural signifiers and inventive traditions. Johnson’s dazzling, intricate, and patterned beadwork calls to thoughts African neckpieces worn in historical Egypt and in Kenya and Tanzania by the Maasai folks, in addition to the hand-sewn bead designs that adorn Mardi Gras Indian fits in New Orleans. Different works within the present referred to as BlingCatchers, adorned with dangling jewellery, child Jordans, and located objects, evince Native American dreamcatchers.
“As a result of it lives on the intersection of race, politics, economics, and in style tradition, basketball stays each acquainted and interesting to many artists…” — MoAD Chief Curator Key Jo lee
A video set up and assemblage and sculptural works produced between 2002 and 2024 are featured within the present. Two works composed of switch prints on poured concrete are displayed alongside works based mostly on regulation basketball hoops and backboards.
“As a result of it lives on the intersection of race, politics, economics, and in style tradition, basketball stays each acquainted and interesting to many artists…” MoAD Chief Curator Key Jo lee stated in an announcement. “Ann’s work powerfully removes the determine of the participant, and thus the Black physique, as the thing of contemplation. As a substitute, the artist investigates crucial questions on freedom, success and ‘uplifts’ through bejeweled backboards and decorative hoops.”
Johnson informed KQED she loves basketball, is a giant fan of the Golden State Warriors, and is heartened to have her work exhibited at MoAD. “I used to stroll previous there when it first opened,” she stated. The exhibition coincides with MoAD’s twentieth anniversary yr and the NBA’s 2025 All-Star Weekend within the San Francisco Bay Space (Feb. 14-16). CT
Curated by Key Jo Lee, Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It is on view on the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, Calif., from Feb. 5-March 2, 2025
FIND MORE about Ann Johnson on her web site and Instagram
Set up view of Ann Johnson’s “Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It,” Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, Calif. (Feb. 5-March 2, 2025). | Courtesy MoAD
Photograph: Courtesy MoAD
Photograph: Courtesy MoAD
Set up view of Ann Johnson’s “Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It,” Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, Calif. (Feb. 5-March 2, 2025). | Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, Element of “BlingCatcher V: Baller,” 2015 (blended media: fund objects, regulation aim, 18 x 36 inches). | © Ann Johnson. Photograph: Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, Set up view of “Freedom Dreamin’, 2024 (switch print on poured concrete, 20 x 20 x 2 inches). | © Ann Johnson. Photograph: Courtesy MoAD
Photograph: Courtesy MoAD
Photograph: Courtesy MoAD
Set up view of Ann Johnson’s “Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It,” Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, Calif. (Feb. 5-March 2, 2025). | Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, “Tut’s Ice,” 2004 (blended media: beads, gilding, regulation aim on wooden, discovered objects, chain internet, 4 x 4 ft x 17 inches), restored in 2024. | © Ann Johnson. Photograph: Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, Element of “Tut’s Ice,” 2004 (blended media: beads, gilding, regulation aim on wooden, discovered objects, chain internet, 4 x 4 ft x 17 inches), restored in 2024. | © Ann Johnson. Photograph: Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, “Beginning of a Star Youngster,” 2006 (blended media: beads, gilding, regulation aim on wooden, discovered objects, 4 x 4 ft). | © Ann Johnson. Photograph: Courtesy MoAD
Set up view of ANN JOHNSON, “My Freedom Gotta Rim On It” (video). | Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, “Freedom Dreamin’, 2024 (switch print on poured concrete, 20 x 20 x 2 inches). | © Ann Johnson. Photograph: Courtesy MoAD
Set up view of Ann Johnson’s “Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It,” Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, Calif. (Feb. 5-March 2, 2025). | Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, Element of “Egyptian Collar,” 2002 (blended media: beads, regulation aim and backboard, discovered objects, chain internet, 48 inches lengthy). | © Ann Johnson. Assortment of Elliot Perry, Memphis, Tenn.
