victor solomon's stained glass basketball backboards are 'literally balling'

victor solomon’s stained glass basketball backboards are ‘literally balling’
all images courtesy of victor solomon

superstar basketball players are often christened ‘kings of the court’, collecting million-dollar paychecks and glorified by fans for their finesse on the floor. artist victor solomon found a unique link between the luxury lifestyle lived by professional athletes and their playing field, uniting the ideas together in a series of basketball backboards handcrafted from stained glass and jewels.

each of the three designs that make up the aptly titled ‘literally balling‘ series have been painstakingly rendered in the traditional ‘tiffany-style’ stained glass — luminous, colorful and intricately composed. solomon pours more than 100 hours of precise labor into the collection — design, shaping and cutting the glass, meticulous soldering, gold-plating the rim, hand weaving the customized net, fabricating the frame and mounting. what began as a joke between solomon and friends obviously tapped the zeitgeist, seeing sport as grounds for an artistic age.

gold chains replace the usual netting

joseph gross gallery presents one piece from solomon’s ‘literally balling’ series at scope miami from december 1- 6, 2015.

colorful glass is placed in a floral composition

pink and light yellow stained glass is geometrically arranged in the backboard

hanging jewels replace the woven basketball net 

a circular pattern is imprinted into the glass

h/t [creators project]