Athletes are Artists

Most of us would say that art and sports don’t have much to do with each other – but I don’t think that’s true. While our intellectual self lives in the mind, our intuition lives in the body. This embodied self is the seat of creativity – and therefore of art.

On the surface, we tend to think of athletes as physical and not particularly creative, but stretching our physical abilities and challenging our bodies is a well-traveled path to creativity, and many athletes are also artists.

Renan Ozturk is known mostly as a climbing photographer and cinematographer and professional climber, but he describes himself as a “landscape artist at heart”, and his paintings provide a unique window into the eye of a mountaineer.

Mount Whitney Cicre by Renan Ozturk
Renan Ozturk: Mount Whitney Cicre

Baron Batch pursued a career in professional football before realizing that he was The Artist:

Feel my Truth by Baron Batch
Baron Batch: Feel My Truth

Gregory Porter is a hugely successful jazz musician who pursued an early career in football before finding his calling in music.

Gregory Porter: Take Me To The Alley
Gregory Porter: Take Me To The Alley

Jered Gruber is a cyclist and photographer whose images capture perfectly the free spirit of the modern cyclist:

Riikka Hyvönen is a roller derby skater and artist. Her unique  painted and upholstered sculptures put us directly in touch with the bruises that derby girls collect:

I Got a Really Beautiful Bruise on My Bum, Do You Want To See a Pic It Has 12 Colours And Is the Size of My Head! by Riikka Hyvönen
I Got a Really Beautiful Bruise on My Bum, Do You Want To See a Pic It Has 12 Colours And Is the Size of My Head! by Riikka Hyvönen

Gou Miyagi is an incredibly innovative skateboarder who is developing new and unique ways of using his body and his board to create movement and imagery:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BG3IHGJng1r/