Derrick Rose Art Installation

Last week at this time, I was designing a very deep and symbolic 3D model for my Virtual Reality class and wanted to share it with my loyal GWHH fans and Chicagoans who might be interested. The objective was to create an art installation, not unlike one you could see in an art museum like the Art Institute in Chicago, but to create a 3D space that was not inspired by the literal, rather the symbolic. I approached the objective by brainstorming symbols we see in everyday life, such as street signs, images from the play button on a stereo to various symbols in media like the Pepsi logo or the 5 bars on your cell phone. I also thought of how literal objects and people could also be considered symbols and that’s how I started to come up with an idea to apply one of my biggest interests (basketball) into this project. The following images of my 3D model will help explain the journey of achieving the dream to become and NBA basketball player as a little kid and directly applying it to the storybook reality of my favorite basketball player, the Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose!

Scenes 1 & 2: With the Virtual Reality goggles on, you are first immersed on my real-to-scale basketball court, starting on the playground and looking at the door before you. The door has one of those Nerf Basketball hoops on it and a mini basketball on the ground at your feet. That represents the first love for basketball that many children have when they are even in preschool. The basketballs on the ground continue to symbolize the story and create the path throughout the basketball court. Scene 2 follows the basketballs to the free throw line where a mini basketball is on the ground. The 10 foot playground hoop has two life-size basketballs that are physically connected to the hoop to remain realistic. The growth from a mini basketball to the real-life basketball illustrates the transition of playing on the playground as a little kid to continuing practicing and playing the game as an adolescent. After all, the playground becomes a basketball player’s second home when growing up.

Scenes 3 & 4: The above image shows scenes 3 and 4 where you continue the journey of becoming an NBA player and where the direct application to the life of Derrick Rose begins. The two trophies on top of the cones are demonstrative of the two high school state championships that the Chicago-bred Derrick Rose led his team to achieve during his junior and senior years. They are placed on top of two cones that are common in a dribbling drill that many high schoolers take part in to hone their fundamentals. As a point guard, Derrick Rose likely had to weave through the cones like the basketballs represent ever since high school, which was the time when the amount of hard work required to succeed substantially stepped up. After weaving through the cones, Derrick Rose took his game to the next level and brightening his star at the University of Memphis. The partition from the FedEx Forum (the Memphis Tigers’ stadium) is life-size and features Derrick Rose as the big man on campus. The brighter spotlight of playing in bigger stadiums and in front of the national media was a challenge that Derrick Rose met as he led his Memphis Tigers to within a few free throws of the national championship.

Scene 5: In this final scene, the basketballs lead us across the playground to the future home of Derrick Rose: the United Center floor, which further symbolizes the progression of Derrick Rose as a little kid on the playground to a future NBA All-Star in the NBA. As you approach the 3 point line in virtual reality, you see the Derrick Rose partitions placed on the United Center facade, which represent Derrick Rose as the number one pick and the pressures that come with being the new face of one of the biggest NBA franchises. You then look way up at a larger-than-life scaled basketball hoop and basketball. It represents Derrick Rose taking a 3-pointer and aiming for his new and highest goal as a professional basketball player: to win an NBA Championship! The ball could swish in the hoop and hit the trophy, symbolically representing the achievement of that goal OR the ball could rim out as the goal of becoming an NBA champion is one that even some of the game’s legends have not been able to fulfill. Only time will tell as we are about to embark on the Derrick Rose Era for GWHH’s hometown Chicago Bulls!

Model Overview:

~ Sgt. Tibs