Hemi by Don Hamerman

After class on Tuesday I went online to look at the site 20x200.com that we went over in class. At first I was very skeptical about the $20 artwork on the site and I did not think that I would be able to find a piece of art that really stuck out to me. While I was browsing the different images none of them truly grabbed my attention, all of them just seemed to blend together. Most of them appeared to be simple images, plain text, basic cityscapes, and expressionistic color schemes. Then, all of a sudden “Hemi” by Don Hamerman caught my eye. I clicked on the image to enlarge it and right then and there I knew that this would be a piece of art that I would hang up in my own house.
Although baseball season will be starting up soon, it has never really played a huge role in my life. I never played it as a kid and I play it every once and a while now. However, in my opinion, nothing beats going to a baseball game on a warm summer day to sit back and watch one of Americas best past times. The funny part is that even having said that, it is not the reason why I would want to hang this artwork up in my house. The reason why I would want to hang it up is because of the symbolism I can attach to it.
The image of the baseball is perfectly clean and crisp, the polar opposite of the ball itself. The baseball appears as though it has traveled to hell and back, but did not go down without a fight. To me it symbolizes the hard work, dedication, sweat, and blood that is poured into sports and the players behind the game. Whether it is at the professional level or the tee-ball level, baseball or boxing, to me the baseball represents the perseverance of today’s athlete. To me, it symbolizes the motivation behind the physical abuse involved in sports and shows an overcoming of pain.
I could honestly say that if I had $2,000 to spend, I would buy the 30”x40” version of the portrait and hang it up on my living room wall to help motivate me to overcome lives daily endeavors.