LOCAL ARTISTS CHOSEN FOR CHASE CENTER Warriors, Sports & The Arts Commission 33 Artists for Inclusion in Arena Art Collection Art to Highlight Entertainment, Regional and Sports History
The back-to-back NBA Champion Golden State Warriors, and Chase Center, the Warriors’ new 18,064-seat privately financed sports and entertainment arena in the San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood, today announced the artists selected through Sports & The Arts (SATA) who will create artwork for the arena and surrounding area.
Last June, the Warriors announced a “Call for Artists” program, inviting artists from around the Bay Area and beyond to be considered for commissions as part of the Chase Center art collection.
The 33 artists who were eventually selected cover a variety of styles, interpretations, media and techniques. The works of art will showcase the Warriors, entertainment and regional history, and will be a one-of-a-kind, museum-quality art and photography collection. Full details on the individual artworks, along with their locations at Chase Center, will be announced at a later date.
More than half of the artists commissioned for Chase Center have Bay Area connections. Among the local artists who will be featured in and around Chase Center will be:
• Nina Fabunmi: Fabunmi graduated with an MFA in Painting from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and has had her work featured locally in the California State Building, UCSF Women’s Health Center, the Museum of the African Diaspora, Studio Gallery and Gallery 1317 in San Francisco, as well as Gallery Guichard in Chicago. A versatile artist, Fabunmi is known for her emotionally charged art that features portraiture, figures or landscapes with a unique, expressive technique, achieved with the use of a palette knife.
• Chad Hasegawa and Guillaume Ollivier: A pair of artists who work together, Hasegawa and Ollivier’s style juxtaposes bold geometry with soft undulating design to present contrasting yet complementary abstractions. Graduates of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Hasegawa, a San Francisco resident, and Ollivier, an Oakland resident, create art that speaks to the different cultures around the Bay Area. Hasegawa has had his work featured in the DeYoung Museum and the Andrea Schwartz gallery, and Ollivier has had work shown in the Juxtapoz Magazine, GoodMother Gallery and Athen B. Gallery.
• Shomari Smith: A multi-dimensional artist, Smith was born and raised in Oakland and pulls from various inspirations, such as music or other pieces of art, for his work. Smith graduated with a degree in illustration from the California College of Arts.
• Michael Zagaris: A native of California’s Central Valley, Zagaris found a love for photography and in 1971, began shooting the most influential musicians of the era, including Ten Years After, the Grateful Dead, Humble Pie, the Faces, Patti Smith, Santana, Blondie and the Clash. A team photographer of the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Athletics, Zagaris has photographed 38 NFL Super Bowl games, 13 MLB World Series’ match-ups, and 13 various All-Star games. He’s had work featured in Sports Illustrated and Time Magazine. He currently resides in San Francisco and continues to photograph music, sports, fashion and culture.
• Milton Bowens: Bowens is the Lead Artist-in-Residence at Twin Rivers Unified School District and has had 10 solo exhibitions in the Oakland and Sacramento areas over the past two years. Bowens has donated his artwork to raise money for arts and charitable organizations in the Oakland and Sacramento communities over the past several years. He conducts youth art residencies in two local elementary schools and volunteers in schools and for non-profits to inspire young minds and educate them about the importance of art to culture and society.
• Precita Eyes: Precita Eyes Muralists Association and Center, established in 1977, founded by Susan and Luis Cervantes in San Franciscoʼs Mission District, is a multipurpose community-based arts organization that has played an integral role in the city’s cultural heritage and arts education.
For more information and for a full list of artists, please [CLICK HERE.]
“I am beyond ecstatic to be one of the artists selected for the Chase Center Art Collection or Art Collection at Chase Center,” said Milton Bowens. “Most fine artists can only dream of having their work seen at the highest level and with the brightest spot light. As a young boy growing up in Oakland, CA, and falling in love with my local team, I am blessed to be satisfying two lifelong goals. One being included in the Collection and, two, paying homage to the team that made me fall in love with basketball. This project is proof that good things will come true if you never stop chasing your dreams.”
Areas of opportunity for artwork inside Chase Center include wall spaces throughout the arena’s concourses, in addition to opportunities along the exterior of the building, including the outdoor videoboard, and throughout the surrounding district.
In addition to the 33 Sports & The Arts commissions, international artist Olafur Eliasson will create a signature piece of artwork for the district. And naming rights partner Chase will provide artwork from their JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, which features more than 30,000 artworks located in 250 offices worldwide, to be included in the JP Morgan Club inside the arena. The Warriors plan to continue to work with local community organizations to highlight their work, through a collaboration with archive experts Heritage Werks, to showcase the history of the Warriors and entertainment in the Bay Area.
About Chase Center Chase Center is a 18,064 seat sports and entertainment arena, set to open in the Fall of 2019, which will anchor an 11-acre mixed use privately financed complex in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood. Chase Center will play host to Warriors basketball, concerts, cultural events, family shows, and convention activities, totaling nearly 200 events a year. The sports and entertainment district will include two office buildings and 29 unique retail locations, along with 3.2 acres of publicly accessible plazas and open space.
About Sports & The Arts Sports & The Arts, established in 1993, is a full turn-key fine art design service, offering creative development and curation of gallery quality art, photography, sculpture and graphic wall treatments. SATA drives the vision, development and implementation of large-scale installations within sports and entertainment venues and creates unique fan experiences for each client. Sports & The Arts previous projects include Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan, Lambeau Field (remodel) in Green Bay, Wisconsin, US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis Minnesota, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA; Marlins Park in Miami; Amway Center in Orlando; Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.; and the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y. Sports & The Arts is a member of the Women-Owned Small Business Association.
