Tyrrell Winston In His Own Lane
California-born artist Tyrrell Winston’s practice begins with collecting. For years, he has gathered objects from the streets and basketball courts of New York, drawn to the histories and the “permanent energy” they retain. He organizes and reconfigures these materials into works that ask us to look again at what others have left behind.
To coincide with JOOPITER’s offering of Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals Game 3 jersey and 1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello, JOOPITER presents a selection of works by Tyrrell Winston alongside vintage pieces from his personal collection. Sculptures made from worn basketballs sit beside paintings that examine the fame and mythology of the game, while Bulls and Jordan T-shirts show the culture Winston has collected around it. Together, they trace the energy carried by these objects: the marks left by play, the devotion of fans, and the memories that continue to shape Winston’s work.
We spoke with Winston about what makes an object worth keeping, his relationship with basketball and the histories he finds in everyday things.
Do you remember the first time you fell in love with basketball? Take us back to that moment. Where were you, who were you with, and what was it about the game that made you want to keep playing?
I’m too young to remember the first time. I grew up with a father who was a diehard Lakers fan, so in retaliation I chose to root for the Clippers. After all these years I guess the joke’s still on me. But there have been many moments that made me fall in love with basketball. Coming home from church on Sunday and watching Sunday afternoon basketball on NBC, obsessing over Jordan, Iverson and Kobe highlights on Sports Center before I’d go to school, watching Brent Barry win the Slam Dunk contest, countless Lakers and Clippers games on Fox Sports West, watching the Lakers win their first championship of the 2000s, going to games at the Forum, Staples Center, Madison Square Garden. Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson hoop it up for the Clippers in the early 2000s. And I still fall in love again every year with the game.
Photo by Luke Steppey
What's an object from your childhood that you wish you'd held onto? Not necessarily something valuable, but something that would immediately take you back to a particular moment in your life.
My framed poster of Michael Jordan winning the 1988 Slam Dunk contest. It hung alongside my bed until I was in high school. And it’s an image that I constantly reference in my work.
Is there a particular Michael Jordan moment, whether something you witnessed live, watched on television, or discovered years later, that has stayed with you? What makes that memory significant to you?
Watching him hit The Shot over Bryon Russell while on vacation with my family in Mammoth, California was pretty special. And then meeting Bryon Russell a number of months later while he was playing pickup at a gym my parents went while I was wearing an MJ jersey and asked him for his autograph anyways and he told me the only reason I wanted it is because of that MJ shot. By the way I would never ask anyone for their autograph now, but I was 13 at the time and didn’t care.
Who was your first sporting hero, and have you ever met them?
First sporting heroes were probably Jim Abbott (one handed pitcher for the California Angels) or Magic Johnson. I’ve never met either.
Of the works you're presenting with JOOPITER, which feels the most personal to you, and why? Is there a story behind it that you've never shared publicly?
All of the works are quite personal. Much of what I do with my work is to insert myself next to greatness. It’s part confidence and part craziness, but it works. Playing on the idea of the artist as the athlete and vice versa. Two of the magazine PSA works would be the most personal in this selection. One says “How High Can He Fly?” and the other has crossed out text that reads “Tyrrell stands at the pinnacle of his game.” These pieces while having Michael Jordan as direct and abstract subject matter – are also self portraits/affirmations of sorts.
When you imagine these works entering someone else's collection, what do you hope they connect with? Is there a particular kind of person you'd love to see living with them?
Once the work leaves my studio all bets are kind of off. Hopefully it's someone who understands the power of imagery and is interested in parallels of art history and sports history.
Titles such as What Do The Stats Say? and HOW HIGH CAN HE FLY? feel as though they're asking questions of their own. Are the titles rooted in something personal, or are they intended to challenge the viewer?
It's personal and challenging. Like I’d mentioned above a lot of these things are self-affirmations but they can be that for the viewer as well. It’s very Be Like Mike. Cheekiness aside, the work is rooted in art history and is having conversations with not just great athletes, but artists I admire as well.
Person, Place or Thing you are obsessed with right now?
Detroit, I’ve lived here for 5 years now and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
