Sport Illustrated: 1954-?

 

 

Back in 2013, for another blog called SPORTOLOGY, I did a story on the SI VAULT, a treasure trove of Sport Illustrated covers. As a creative director for sports and fitness publications, I found it an incredible library and resource for inspirational sports imagery.

Sports Illustrated covers celebrated the joy of sport. They captured the greatest athletes of all time with such an intimate point of view, they felt like a son or daughter’s framed picture on the mantlepiece. They invited the reader in to find out more. Even the most intimidating of competitors let down their guard. Read More

 

Mode Et Sport

 

 
In anticipation of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs presents Mode et Sport: From one Podium to Another, now on view through April 7, 2024. The exhibition explores and showcases the history of fashion and sport from the Ancient World to the present day.
 


 

The 450 items on view include clothing, accessories, photographs, sketches, magazines, posters, paintings, sculptures, and videos that illustrate the evolution of sportswear and its influence on contemporary fashions. Sports featured include football, golf, tennis, cycling, ski, swimwear, and more. Read More

 

History Of Basketball In Fifteen Sneakers

 

 

The ultimate book for both hoops fans and sneaker obsessives, A History of Basketball in Fifteen Sneakers is a celebration of the iconic shoes and superstars who have defined the sport. Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars, Reebok Pumps, Air Jordans and more, each chapter breaks down how each sneaker represented an era, transformed the culture, and changed the game.

A History of Basketball in Fifteen Sneakers is written with authority by former Complex and SLAM magazine editor Russ Bengtson. With full-color sneaker photographs and detailed illustrations throughout, the book is a kaleidoscopic celebration of the players, styles, and iconic moments that have shaped hoops both on and off the court. Read More

 

Shaping Surf History

 

 

 

FROM TOP: TOM CURREN, 1981; AL MERRICK AND STUDENTS, 1980; AL MERRICK WITH ONE OF HIS INNOVATIVE TWIN FIN SHAPES

 
Shaping Surf History: Tom Curren and Al Merrick, California 1980-1983, a new surf book from Rizzoli, documents a brief but influential period in surf history in Santa Barbara, California. It was an era that saw an extraordinary mix of innovation, individuals, and epic surf conditions on the back of a record-breaking El Nino — beautifully captured by author and photographer, Jimmy Metyko, in a visual encapsulation of one of the most fertile periods in the sport.

With dramatic action shots and personal vignettes, Metyko follows the rise of young legend-to-be and future three-time world champion Tom Curren, whose preternatural wave-riding abilities would help establish California at the forefront of contemporary surfing. He puts us on the waves with a remarkable view and insider’s perspective of the sport’s evolution embodied by this young surfer, whose singular style was enhanced by revolutionary board shaper Al Merrick of Channel Island Surfboards.

We recently chatted with Metyko about this era in surf history, his own evolution from surfer to photographer, and the compilation of work in his first book… Read More

 

Need for Speed

 


 

For decades, the Bonneville Salt Flats has welcomed various extraordinary automobile events, among which is the World of Speed. Every year in September, amateur and professional racing teams settle on the salt for a week to pursue their speed record dreams. In LANDSPEED 2, photographer Julien Roubinet explores this iconic gathering and otherworldly destination, embedded in the American car and DIY culture.

About 12 miles long and 5 miles wide, the Bonneville Salt Flats are a 30,000 acre expanse of hard, white salt crust on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake basin in Utah. The seemingly endless expanse creates a surreal environment, the perfect surface and location to reach speeds nearing 500mph. Read More

 

Against The Tides

 

BETH FRENCH

Against The Tides is the captivating story of British marathon swimmer and world record holder Beth French, and her quest to swim across the most dangerous open water crossings in the extreme challenge known as Oceans Seven. For marathon swimmers it is the ultimate test — the equivalent of climbing the Seven Summits in mountaineering — and very few people have ever completed it. Beth ups the ante with the goal to accomplish it in a single year which has never been done, even more unfathomable as she spent much of her youth in a wheelchair with a debilitating illness, unable to move.

The Oceans Seven consists of seven of the most unforgiving straits and channels around the world. There is The North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, 21 miles; The Cook Strait between New Zealand’s North and South Islands, 16 miles; The Molokai Channel between Molokai and Oahu, 27 miles; The English Channel between England and France, 21 miles; The Catalina Channel between Santa Catalina Island and Los Angeles, California, 21 miles; The Tsugaru Strait between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, 12 miles; and The Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco, 10 miles. Read More

 

Liquid Horizon

 

 

Born and raised in Kauai, surfer and photographer Daniel Fuller has spent his life in, on, and surrounded by water. He is regarded as one of surfing’s preeminent big wave riders. Fuller has become a lauded photographer as well. It is no surprise his images focus on the ocean, captured in an ethereal and mystical way. His intimate connection with the aquatic world brings a unique perspective to his photography, now published for the first time in Liquid Horizon: Meditations of the Surf and Sea. This retrospective showcases an opulent collection of abstract seascapes created from 2007-2020.

Fuller’s nocturnal images of waves and water are photographed evocatively by moonlight with slow exposures. While soulful, they exhibit a creative discipline, repeating and evolving a single idea over time. As art writer and gallerist Adam Lindemann describes in the preface, “The ocean and the shore are abstracted beyond recognition, to the point that what we see is just color; the composition is a transition from one to the other — dry land merges into the water and the image becomes a part of the liquid experience.”

Whether on a surfboard or with a camera, there are both similarities and differences in how Fuller captures a wave. We spoke to him about his process and vision, and the expression of his experience with the ocean into his art… Read More

 

Wave Prophecy Sorayama

 

 
Famed Japanese contemporary illustrator, Hajime Sorayama, has teamed up with Mizuno to transform its iconic WAVE PROPHECY sneaker into a work of art that is the WAVE PROPHECY SORAYAMA. Sorayama is best known for the erotic machinery of his Sexy Robot series and has added his signature highly stylized, slick and shiny layer to the futuristic evolution of this running shoe.

The most distinctive element of the WAVE PROPHECY SORAYAMA is the sole, already unique its design, which showcases the intersection of Mizuno’s technology with Sorayama’s creative vision. Sorayama wanted the sneaker to inspire “floating in the air” and the resulting design gives the impression it might actually lift off and fly.
 


 

This collaboration with Sorayama and Mizuno was not their first. The two teamed up previously on the design of prosthetic running blade called the KATANAΣ, also rendered in his shiny silver, and perhaps even more so embodying his Sexy Robots.

The WAVE PROPHECY SORAYAMA will be available for early release at 2G Tokyo and 2G Osaka on January 30, and at Dover Street Market Ginza and KITH Tokyo on February 6. The shoe is priced at ¥38,500 JPY (approximately $370 USD).

 
 

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