Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics 2000

Curator: We're looking at "Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics" by LeRoy Neiman, made in 2000. It appears to be rendered with pencil and paint on paper. Editor: Whoa, instant kinetic energy! It feels like those amber-toned snapshots of raw basketball intensity – capturing the split-second before a slam dunk. Chaotic, but undeniably alive. Curator: Right, there's an immediate sense of dynamic movement, largely because Neiman employs swift, broken lines, giving the impression of multiple, blurred figures. It collapses the difference between sketch and painting, doesn't it? The choice of pencil lines mixed with colorful highlights evokes quickness, like a sideline reporter capturing a fleeting impression. It sits outside high art categories but fits comfortably within an idea of spectacle, production and media coverage. Editor: Exactly! Like the energy literally exploded onto the paper. There's also an undercurrent of unfinished narrative here that really grabs me. Like little sketches on a napkin or a quickly done story-board for the television networks that cover this sport. It has the raw feel of pre-production in a studio that you usually never see! Curator: The date is interesting too—2000. The late style of someone immersed in the spectacle of commodity culture using quick, expressive marks. He was selling prints of athletic competitions. His success speaks to an expansion of the consumption of fine art—the rise of the mass reproduced object catering to different desires. The commodification of speed and entertainment that comes with sporting events themselves... Editor: Hmmm... I'm not sure that the feeling here has been totally 'commodified' – I get something deeper here. Look at the choice of materials, though! Pencils, ink, something fast, something rough around the edges…Neiman’s piece hints at the unfiltered thrill of the game, not its branding. The piece hints at pure, bodily struggle and speed rather than pure market value. Curator: An interesting distinction, though Neiman, in that cultural moment, could move between art gallery sales, the art market and televised broadcasting very freely indeed. One is prompted to wonder at the labour and working conditions surrounding images like this. Editor: True, true! But this game day feeling… like the ref just tossed the ball up. You can almost hear the squeak of the sneakers and the shouting. For a supposedly commodified painting this artwork has more power than you give it credit for! Curator: A vital tension exists here between production, reproduction, value, art object... Editor: Definitely. A real moment that invites me in for the life and sweat on the paper rather than sending me straight to my bank account! Thanks!