"Color Line" by Brett Tomko, a former major league pitcher with the Cincinnati Reds (Photo courtesy The Abstract Athlete)
For some, athletics and visual arts are strange bedfellows. Not for Ron Johnson, an assistant professor of painting and printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University, and his business-partner Chris Clemmer, the founder of eco-friendly toy companies Sprig and BeginAgain.
The friends, who met while working in a record store, are former high-level athletes in baseball and soccer. In 2016, after discussing their personal experiences with multiple sports-related concussions, the two founded The Abstract Athlete — “the” is a nod to their alma mater, The Ohio State University, which considers the benefit of art for athletes and veterans (some who have experienced brain injuries) through workshops, art exhibitions and symposia.
Johnson began exploring these ideas in 2017 in a studio course at VCU, “Art & Athletics,” which is divided between students in art and athletics. After three semesters, “We’re starting [to see] that creativity is a real benefit to people,” he says.
Richmond is a test site for the launch of The Abstract Athlete, with a symposium, art exhibition and merchandise.
The art exhibition is on view at 1708 Gallery through March 17. It features work by current and former NFL players, including Vernon Davis; former Major League Soccer player Jay DeMerit; U.S. Army veterans, including Joe Olney; former NBA player Larry Sanders; former Major League Baseball pitcher Brett Tomko; and former U.S. National Team bobsledder Hillary Werth. All have been working professionally as artists. Some, like Alicia Dietz and Riley Howard, hold MFAs or other formal training, while others, including Sanders and former NFL player Percy King, are self-taught.
The quality of the work is equally disparate. A few rise to the top, including Dietz’s "Collective Cadence" project, an installation featuring stories by veterans and their families, and King’s "Heavy Is the Crown," a portrait of Barack Obama that defies digital documentation. Jay Demerit’s speakers are visually arresting, but would be more compelling if they projected sound art. Then there are the works that have an exploratory feel: a misstep in framing or something that needs more studio time.
Johnson anticipated criticism: “I’m assuming there’s going to be a little bit of pushback from the art crowd, and that’s fine. I’ve always been [of] the belief that everybody is creative. Are there better or worse things? Of course. But that’s for people to decide themselves.”
There’s also the question of purpose. "The Abstract Athlete" sought a conversation between two groups that are mostly unaligned, and it does just that, thereby broadening the audience of contemporary art and making a compelling case for dialogue between art and sports.
"The Abstract Athlete" is on view at 1708 Gallery through March 17.
