Are sports and celebrities the new religion (and are athletes gods then)? When French newspaper L’Equipe in 1997 declared Michael Jordan ‘bigger than the pope’ in the wake of a Bulls preseason exhibition game in Paris, an unambigious ‘Oui’ was the answer. The exhibition New Religion, True Religion, Bigger than the Pope by Tyrrell Winston in Athens now delves further into it, while also marking the artist’s first solo show in Greece ever.
Aside from his popular artfully deflated basketballs, a reoccuring and popular motif in Winston’s work of transformed discarded items, the symbolic aspect of religion and transience are also reflected in other exhibits:
Amongst it is the sculpture ‘Imposter Syndrome‘ whose basketball rim on a stool gives Marcel Duchamp’s work of art ‘Bycicle Wheel‘ a hoop twist. By referencing both basketball and another artist, it acknowledes the influence artists have on each other, the same way an athlete can adopt a move from another one.
New Religion, True Religion, Bigger than the Pope is still on display for the public at Allouche Benias Gallery in Athens from June 17th through July 22nd, 2023.
