Hooped Up

Considered one of the greatest basketball books of all time, Rick Telander’s “Heaven is a Playground” describes a summer spent at Foster Park in Brooklyn in 1974, where Telander was able to witness basketball legends in the making and document the early culture of street basketball.

In honor of the book’s 35th anniversary, Converse prepared an exhibition of Rick’s photography from that summer in Foster Park – featuring basketball greats and characters from book such as Connie Hawkins, Albert and Bernard King, James “Fly” Williams to name just a few. Read More »

Sit back and watch New York street artist WK Interact bring the intimidating power of Dwyane Wade to life on the streets of Manhattan. Beautiful graff work!

Derrick Rose is on the cover of this months 3-D issue of FadeAway magazine and hands down, this is the coolest basketball magazine cover I have ever seen in my life to date.

Hats off to the FadeAway creative department!

H/N K1X

Why imagine LeBron James in a New York Knicks uniform this summer, when Photoshop can make it a reality now. Bless your digitally creative over zealous heart New York media.

H/N Extra Mustard + Ball Don’t Lie

Following in the footsteps of Derrick Rose, who can’t talk trash while playing video games on his level. Kobe Bryant is now in the latest edition of GQ magazine. Interviewed by J.R. Moehringer and photographed by one of my favorite artists in the entire universe Terry Richardson.

Kobe had a lot of interesting things to say regarding Shaq, injuries, being famous and the ice water that runs through his veins. Read More »

With the notorious Overkill Shop in Berlin as the back drop, K1X unleash and celebrated the complete 4-ELEMENTS series together. Featuring 4 unique basketballs limited to 444 pieces per element and four artists worldwide. Dj BinIchNich provided the soundtrack while friends, fans and family turned out in bunches to get a first glimpse at the project.

If you love basketball and art, copping the complete set of this bouncing art collection is a must!

Pics of the fun after the break.

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You have already seen the Marok (WATER), Frank 151 featuring Stay High 149 (AIR) and Bill McMullen (FIRE) from the K1X “4-E” collection of unique basketballs and now, last but not least by Mode2 (EARTH).

MODE2 is a “living legend” – one of Europe’s most prominent artists in general, and a central figure of graffiti culture worldwide. Graffiti’s “thinking man” has painted and exposed his work all over the globe and is notorious for his „Battle of the Year“ designs. His sophisticated illustrations make Mode2 one of the most interesting icons in street art today. The EARTH design features a new twist on Mode’s famous character drawings: a ballplayer.

All four of the balls from the K1X “4-E” collection are strictly limited to 444 units worldwide and the official global release event will take part @ Overkill Shop (Berlin) on 21/01/2010.

After the jump, a few words from MODE2 about art and EARTH.

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You got a look at the Marok WATER, and the Stay High 149 x Frank 151 AIR from the K1X “4-E” limited artist series of unique basketballs already and today you’ll get an exclusive look at the FIRE ball designed by Bill McMullen who has one of the coolest offices I have ever seen!

Inspired by the 1984 USA Olympic star and his favorite color orange, this ball depicts images of a city engulfed in flames and this series of bouncing art by K1X impresses again. I love it!

After the jump, check out the Bill McMullen’s interview in his type ill office as he discusses his inspirations and how he started his graphic design career at Def Jam after the jump.

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I’m not too sure how big of a basketball fan artist Merrill Kazanjian is, but I do know what he can do with a pencil, paper, and blending tool is pretty damn amazing.

In this video clip not only does Kazanjian draw a bang on depiction of King James, but he also outlines the 24 simple steps you need to get the same results. However from this day forth, everytime I see LeBron I will be thinking of rainbows and Pizza Hut thanks to this tutorial too.

After the jump, see each step and start scribbling.

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Gabriel Dishaw, a junk-metal genius who turns trash into artwork. His most recent pieces were inspired by his love of Nike shoes, as he fashioned five different kicks, including dunks and high tops. Salvaged from computers, typewriters, and metal scraps. When I saw this I had a nerdgasm, because besides basketball. I love art, kicks and for some strange reason building custom computers.

If a ball game breaks out in TRON, everybody will be wearing these guaranteed.

Peep the digital goods after the jump.

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