Maxwell Pearce

They can have it be overlooked because of how they playfully embrace its direction.

They recognize that something went wrong, but they actually welcome the unfamiliarity that comes with that new position.

What I've learned is that in order to get to that point, you have to be able to roll with it.

Because otherwise, you'll stop before you're ever able to discover something new.

And that is actually how we are able to stumble upon a new concept.

As I mentioned before, I am also an artist.

In fact, the artist side of me came before I was ever a basketball player.

Basketball, amongst other sports, has allowed me to have an ongoing relationship as it impacts my practice as an artist.

Sports have given me the tools to identify voids in and around my life, while also giving me a platform to fill them.

Again, I was a really shy kid, so art was my way of expressing myself when sports didn't give me the opportunity to.

I used to create drawings of my favorite anime characters.

I would paint pictures of animals.

And over time, I started to focus on people with real stories.

Some of these experiences that I've had with basketball have allowed me to gain a new perspective.

One day, I decided to cut up some shoelaces

and put them on a canvas.

I wasn't totally satisfied with it just yet, but I knew that I had something significant there.

Using this as my medium has allowed me to communicate my identity through my pieces.

One of the signatures that's constantly through my work is using pieces of equipment that are a part of my personal journey as an athlete.

For example, sometimes that's cut-up basketballs from a past Globetrotter game.