Marcello Ricci’s NBA-inspired artwork is a celebration of basketball before the digital era

Marcello Ricci’s work is a playful ode to nostalgia. The New York-based artist has taken a unique and crafty approach to celebrating the game of basketball. His collages and doodles rely heavily on NBA memorabilia from the ‘90s—a theme that allows him to channel a younger version of himself.

Originally from Santa Barbara, California, Ricci grew up attending Lakers games with his godfather during the mid-90s. The decorated 2-time champion wasn’t just a spectator of the game, however. He also played point guard for his elementary school’s basketball team, the Roosevelt Rough Riders, where he won two back-to-back city championships.

After graduating from college, he began working at an art gallery, and later, a nonprofit art organization where he served as Executive Director. Under his leadership, they organized exhibitions, offered a mentorship program for teens, coordinated an art walk, and created a new public art program in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone Arts District.

His love for the art world came as no surprise. He credits his parents for encouraging his creativity from early on. “My parents are pretty colorful people with youthful spirits. Our kitchen was yellow, hallways purple, and the doors and windows were green.”

The affinity for bright colors translated seamlessly to the work Ricci now creates under the Instagram name @basketbology. “Taken literally, it would mean the study of basketball but I don't think of it in that way. The name just had a fun ring to it and I feel like it embodies the playful spirit of my art,” says Ricci.

Despite being involved in the art world for the past decade, he only recently began to create his own work over the past year.

“I had picked up drawing in January of 2018 and was pretty aimless for a while. That summer I had gotten back into regularly playing basketball again… playing in pick-up games and shooting every day.”

“Around that time, my awareness of the creative community surrounding basketball was growing. Then one day in March 2019, I doodled seven basketballs on a page and I just dug the way it looked like a solar system - it reminded me of the Space Jam website. I have been following the thread ever since.”

Much like the Space Jam website, Ricci’s work gives the illusion of being frozen in time. Despite the film’s release in 1996, the site is nearly fully functional. In it, you can find film trivia, production notes, and a comical and clearly dated limited-time offer to receive the Space Jam soundtrack cassette for $8.99.

The site’s design and content are an exploration of time and provide a lens into the days when life appeared to move at a much slower pace, all synonymous with the themes found in Ricci’s artwork.

He creates the whimsical drawings by using his left/non-dominant hand in order to lean into the childlike aesthetic of his work, which is a reflection of his own playful personality. His primary tools are crafty art materials such as construction paper, cardboard, glue sticks, pencils, and basketball trading cards from the ‘90s. It fits perfectly into the time period of his youth, before digital illustrations and Photoshop were the norm.

“I was initially drawn to the ‘90s memorabilia because it's what I grew up on. When I began incorporating them into artworks, I realized that their muted and grainy qualities were well-suited to that handmade, analog, tactile, craft/folk art look I was going for. The newer cards are so crisp and vivid, and really impressive, but the old cards vibe with my artistic style better. I really like artworks where you can see the artist's hand in them - you can tell that a person made it and doesn't feel manufactured. Like wabi-sabi, there is beauty in the imperfections.”