The United States Sports University held its annual Sports Artist of the Year banquet Monday, and Canada’s Murray Henderson took home the prestigious honor.
“It’s incredible, because not …
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The United States Sports University held its annual Sports Artist of the Year banquet Monday, and Canada’s Murray Henderson took home the prestigious honor.
“It’s incredible, because not only have I been doing this my whole life, but to be honored and respected as a sports artist is very hard,” Henderson said. “It’s a niche market, and I’m the first Canadian to win this, so that’s pretty exciting.”
Held at the American Sport Art Museum & Archives on USSU’s Daphne campus, the 42nd edition of this event was unique compared to those of the past.
Due to the large number of pieces Henderson selected for the exhibition (16 in total), all of his Sport Artist of the Year works were on display together in the gallery. In addition, the exhibit was already installed and open for viewing prior to Monday’s festivities, and it will be available to the public for one year.
“Some of my favorite pieces aren’t even here because they’re too big,” Henderson said. “I have a piece of Wayne Gretzky that is 11-feet tall by six-and-a-half feet wide, and it’s of his very last point. And within the painting, I hid images of his whole career, so that’s probably my favorite one.”
The displayed artwork ranged from the aforementioned Gretzky to various depictions of Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Lionel Messi and other sporting legends.
With the core theme of GOATs (‘Greatest Of All Time’) defining the gallery, Henderson added that he began working on this style of artwork by pure accident.
“I used to do photorealism, and one day I spilled paint on a piece,” Henderson said. “My friend came by later, looked at it and said ‘Now that’s art, I’d buy that because the splatters give it energy.’ And that’s how it all happened.”
The Peterborough, Ontario, native has been an artist for nearly three decades, and his affinity for depicting sports is rooted in his upbringing.
“I grew up in a sports family, and so that’s the first thing I drew,” Henderson said. “I started with motorcycles, then next thing was hockey players, football, baseball and even downhill skiing from the Olympics.”
Donning a sports coat with paint splattered on it, Henderson certainly looks the part of an artist, with his work being known for its variety of colors, textures and emotions. His ability to draw movement out of two-dimensional pieces has earned him invitations to events such as Fanatics Fest, where he creates artwork on-site.
And while sports art is generally not known for being refined or high-brow, Henderson is attempting to combat that stereotype through his pieces.
“A lot of people associate this kind of work with ‘mancave art,’ and so I’m trying to get people away from that because this is more realism and abstract sports art, or as I call it ‘exact abstract,’” Henderson said. “I want to have people putting my pieces in living rooms as well.”
And on top of all that, another special guest was in attendance. Henderson’s close friend and retired NBA veteran Ryan Anderson showed up to support and share more information about the duo’s recent collaborations.
“I retired from basketball [in 2020] and was trying to find an identity,” Anderson said. “I love my family number one, but I wanted to find a passion project, and I grew up in a super artistic family, not sports-oriented at all.”
Having spent a dozen seasons in the NBA with six different teams, basketball still remained at the forefront of Anderson’s mind…and it even crept into his dreams.
The 6-foot-10 former forward explained that he dreamt one night about him and a handful of other NBA players shooting painted basketballs on a canvas in an all-white room. Golden State Warriors legend Stephen Curry was one of the athletes, and the dream stuck with Anderson as something that just looked plain cool.
Anderson at first debated setting up a canvas in his driveway before realizing his wife would probably shoot that idea down, and after looking around at some potential studios himself, the former NBA player was introduced to Henderson through a friend.
“I told Murray about this dream, and his eyes just lit up,” Anderson said. “And from there, you can just see the chaos in the background of his art, which can totally suit a ball being thrown at it.”
The pair have grown incredibly close over the past year-and-a-half, with Anderson emphasizing that Henderson truly encapsulates what it’s like to be a player on the floor through his artwork. He even added that, unlike the vast majority of artists, Henderson is happy to have subjects add to pieces themselves or request additions halfway through the project.
“It’s almost like I’m seeing the full perspective of what it’d be like as an athlete on the court,” Anderson said. “He’s so good at capturing real faces and moments, and there’s so much energy in his pieces. So to me, he’s the perfect sports artist.”
Henderson has completed two pieces for Anderson, and he’s also worked with plenty of other notable athletes. One of his favorites was a piece he did for former New England Patriot Rod Rutledge, which depicted him catching Tom Brady’s first-ever NFL completion back in 2000.
“When you talk to the athletes themselves, they’ll always talk about family, or something that happened in a locker room,” Henderson said. “And so if you can capture that for them, that’s what means a lot, and that’s what I enjoy doing when working directly with athletes.”
To see more of Henderson’s work or keep up with what he’s doing next, he can be found at MurrayHendersonArt.com or @Murray_Henderson on Instagram. He also has physical pieces currently hanging in Wynwood, Miami, at the Collectors Club.
Additionally, USSU itself is trying to have some of its on-campus artwork featured as part of the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
While they were in the area, Henderson and Anderson also visited the University of South Alabama to speak with art students about how the intersection of art and sport brought the two of them together and ultimately led to a special collaboration.
“For us, we want to create environments of joy, collaboration and connection. We want people to leave our events saying ‘Wow, that was an incredible night,’” Anderson said. “And these can also be moments where an athlete can really open up about their full stories to people, because these are so much more than just art pieces.”
