Daily Newsletter

A Sculptor of World Cup History

Lyndon Barrois’s “sportraits,” Noore Yazigi tattoos Arabic calligraphy, and a copyright lawsuit against Mickalene Thomas.

Hyperallergic

July 10, 2026 — 3 min read

American goalie Hope Solo diving for a save. Brazilian soccer superstar Marta, mid-kick, ponytail frozen midair. Joe Gaetjens’s “miraculous” diving header in the 1950 Word Cup — all made with Wrigley’s gum wrappers.

Just in time for the World Cup semifinals, check out artist Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr.’s depictions of iconic plays in FIFA history. Crucially, he emphasizes not just soccer’s on-field moments but the politics underlying the sport, staging scenes like women’s rights protests outside a 2022 Iran-Wales match in the wake of the Mahsa Amini’s death in custody of Iranian police.

Artist Noore Yazigi also gives form to political convictions in her tattoos incorporating Arabic calligraphy, such as the lines of late Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer’s poem “If I Must Die” (2011) spun into the outline of a watermelon.

In the news, a Chicago photographer sues artist Mickalene Thomas for alleged copyright infringement, and the Art Not Genocide Alliance plans another protest in Venice timed with the US ambassador’s visit. Plus, our community columns, Art Movements and Required Reading, in which we catch you up on this week’s art news and internet must-reads — our weekly tonic for doomscrolling.

—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor

The Artist Sculpting World Cup History Out of Gum Wrappers

Frozen mid-leap, the soccer star Kylian Mbappé is projected onto a massive, larger-than-life screen. Upon closer inspection, the monumental image commanding the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (LACMA) Resnick Pavilion is a tiny, one-inch (~2.5 cm) sculpture. Its body, carefully crafted from a Wrigley’s chewing gum wrapper, sits beneath a camera that projects its image in real time onto a screen. This installation is the work of Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr., whose solo exhibition Fútbol Life: Animated Sportraits is currently on view.

The show arrives in Los Angeles at a pivotal moment, with SoFi Stadium hosting FIFA World Cup matches, including a quarter-final match set to take place today, July 10.| Sigourney Schultz

Mitchell Johnson: New Paintings from California, New England and Europe

Work by the Bay Area artist is on view in Menlo Park, California, through August 29.

Learn more

News

Cultural workers affiliated with the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) plan to protest during United States Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta’s scheduled visit to Venice on Friday, July 17.
A Chicago-based photographer is suing artist Mickalene Thomas for alleged copyright infringement, claiming that Thomas “appropriated more than a dozen” of her images without her consent or proper attribution.