A basketball court in Lisbon got a colourful makeover these past few days and has now become a striking piece of street art.
Portugusese artist AkaCorleone has turned the basketball court of the Campo dos Mártires de Pátria into a technicolor man and woman, mirroring each other in the style of a typical playing card.
The reasoning behind this illustration is right there in the title of the work, Balance. “The search for a true balance is hard to achieve but it’s possible,” said the artist in describing his piece. “The concept behind the art for this project was to play with the notion of duality, of two different points of view, two different sides that complement each other like opposite versions of the same reality that can only be understood as one”.
The project was part of the Underdogs Public Art Programme for 2019, an initiative AkaCorleone has already taken part in during previous years. This direct intervention on the floor of the basketball court, measuring 14 x 25 metres, took nine days to complete. And it’s not like the court will now be unusable for basketball games— AkaCorleone used almost 91 litres of anti-slip enamel paint and 24 litres of hardener, creating an artwork that can still be enjoyed (and played on) by the entire community.
If you want to see the Balance basketball court with your own eyes, you can do so by taking a short walk to the north of the city’s central Rossio Square. You’ll know you’re there once you start seeing the trees of the Braancamp Freire Gardens. In the meantime, if you want to know more about AkaCorleone, you can check out his official website.
