Welcome to our first Artist Spotlight for The Art of the Game.

Over the coming weeks, we'll introduce you to the artists behind the 23 monumental soccer ball sculptures that make up this public art initiative across New York City and New Jersey, concurrent with the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Each sculpture begins with the same iconic form - a soccer ball - but each tells a completely different story about culture, identity, memory, and community.

We're starting with artist, mentor, and ARTS 14C community member Bassim Al Shaker.

Bassim Al Shaker with his sculpture panels in his ARTS 14C studio, photo by Megan Maloy

A Soccer Ball Meant Something Different in Baghdad

When Al Shaker was growing up in Baghdad, a real soccer ball was a luxury.

During the years of the U.S.-led embargo on Iraq, from roughly 1991 to 2003, most children couldn't afford one. The kids in his neighborhood played with cheap plastic balls that split apart almost as quickly as they could kick them.

So they repaired them - stuffing broken balls with plastic bags and scraps of fabric, stitching them back together, and returning to the game.

The patched balls became heavy and awkward, sometimes painful to kick, but the games continued. Occasionally, an entire neighborhood would pool what little money they had to buy a single ball for everyone to share.

For Al Shaker, soccer wasn't simply a game - it was resourcefulness, community, and joy.

Bassim Al Shaker's sculpture at J. Owen Grundy Park in Jersey City, photo by Megan Maloy

So when he was invited to transform one of The Art of the Game sculptures, the connection felt immediate.

"I'm crazy about soccer," he told us. "I love soccer and I love painting - these came together perfectly. It was so much fun."

Al Shaker played soccer throughout his childhood and even spent a year as a professional player at age 17. While painting the panels for his sculpture, he said he felt as though he was creating a solo exhibition - except instead of hanging on gallery walls, it would live where the game first lived for him: out in the street, among everyday people.

New Birth

Today, Al Shaker's sculpture, New Birth, stands at J. Owen Grundy Park in Jersey City, near Exchange Place.

The work draws inspiration from ancient Babylon and Mesopotamian culture. At its center is a daisy, a symbol of healing, renewal, and spring - the season when the Babylonian New Year was celebrated. Rich blues and turquoise tones reference both the visual landscape of Bassim's childhood and ancient traditions that associated those colors with protection and positive energy.



For Al Shaker, the sculpture is more than a personal work. He believes it may be the first public artwork in the United States to bring imagery from Babylon and Mesopotamia directly into a public space.

"We all read about Mesopotamia," he says, "but we don't see something about it in the street."

Bassim Al Shaker at the Whitney Museum of American Art for The Art of the Game launch event on June 3

Photo by Alyssa Ki

Seeing the painting through the soccer ball

One of Bassim's favorite things about the project is watching how people approach the work. A soccer ball is one of the most recognizable objects in the world. People who might never walk into an art gallery stop because they recognize the shape. Then they begin looking more closely.

"I am basically welcoming people to see the painting through the soccer ball."

Suddenly they're asking questions.

Why is there a flower here?

Why is it blue?

What does it mean?

Those moments of curiosity are exactly what The Art of the Game is designed to create - using the universal language of soccer to open doors to art, culture, and conversation.

Al Shaker often returns to the park simply to watch people interact with the sculpture. Children touch the painted surface. Visitors stop for photos. Strangers linger longer than they expected.

What matters most to him isn't whether they know anything about art.

It's whether they leave feeling something.

Bassim Al Shaker in his ARTS 14C studio. Photo by Megan Maloy.

If you've spent time at ARTS 14C, you already know that Al Shaker means much more to us than just as one of our Art of the Game artists.

As an Artist Mentor in Residence, he has become one of the most generous and valued members of our creative community, always ready to support fellow artists and emerging talent.

His own artistic career has earned international recognition, including participation in the invitation-only 2013 Venice Biennale and documenta fifteen in 2022.

Bassim Al Shaker's sculpture at J. Owen Grundy Park in Jersey City, photo by Megan Maloy

Experience New Birth

We invite you to visit New Birth in person at J. Owen Grundy Park on the Hudson River in Jersey City, just a few steps from the Exchange Place PATH station.

Take a photo, bring a friend, and spend a few minutes with the work.

And if you do, tag @arts14c and @bassimalshaker so we can share your experience.

This is the first of 23 artist stories we'll be sharing as The Art of the Game unfolds across New York and New Jersey from June 11 through September 7, 2026.

Each sculpture carries a unique perspective. Each artist brings a different voice.

Al Shaker's story is just the beginning.

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