Riyas Komu,
Mehrajuddin (2007)
Just wrote my first dispatch on art and football, inspired by Riyas Komu's work: Athletes &
Artists: Riyas Komu's "Mark Him (First Half). " The above is a portrait of Mehrajuddin Wadoo.
Mehrajuddin is an Indian National Team midfielder, and currently plays for East Bengal.
Yolanda Sousa Hammermeir, Lara's Theme (2003)
The above is not a portrait of a footballer, clearly, but rather the West Indian cricket player
Daniel Lara. The painting by Goan artist Yolanda Sousa Hammermeier. I love it, just for the colors
& graphic sensibilities. She's also done fantastic paintings in response to 2002 World Cup matches.
Riyas Komu, Stadium I, 2007
Iraq's victory over Saudi Arabia in the 2007 Asia Cup final is likely to hold up as one the
decade's most significant wins. The team's victory represented a complex distillation of resistance
and anger. The torture and murder of Iraqi athletes is frequently cited in the litany of horrors
suffered by the Iraqi people at the hands of Saddam Hussein (see this 2003
Sports
Illustrated story).
