Art and basketball: Maxwell Pearce using passions to positively impact others

Art and basketball are lifelong passions for Maxwell Pearce. His time at Purchase College, a Division III school in his home state of New York, led to a life using both passions to positively impact the world in ways he never imagined. 

Pearce, once a “ridiculously fearful and shy” child, is now someone children look up to as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters. In his role, Pearce performs in front of and speaks to thousands of people. 

“Every time I have an experience that kind of wows me, I just think back to how shy of a kid I was. Even if I knew the right answer, I would not raise my hand to answer. I was terrified to speak in front of my classmates,” Pearce said. “So to be able to be outside of my comfort zone enough to gain that confidence and see that growth is probably the most rewarding part of my journey thus far.”

Pearce’s journey also includes becoming a nationally renowned artist whose work most notably highlights athletes who use their platform to speak out against injustices. His inspiration for creating this uplifting work came from a racially insensitive incident he experienced while being interviewed on live TV in Birmingham, Alabama, during which the interviewers threw a banana and other fruit at him. After months of reflection, Pearce responded by putting out an informative video of the incident and the racial history behind it, only to be overwhelmed by backlash online. 

“One of the main things that people were telling me was just shut up and dribble,” Pearce said. 

So he decided to use his “art as another form of expression.” 

Since then, his work has been exhibited at N’namdi Contemporary during Miami Art Basel 2022, MILE 44 in Los Angeles, and Prizm Art Fair during Miami Art Basel 2023. These exhibitions led to pieces being acquired by the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Diversity Museum of Art and Culture in Pittsburgh and the Westchester County Sports Hall of Fame in New York, among others. He also has provided designs for the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats initiative, which allows players to express their commitment to the causes that are most important to them. One of his pieces will be displayed during the 2024 NBA All-Star weekend in Indianapolis, where he’ll also speak to the students selected to be part of the league’s HBCU Student Art Showcase.  

“I think it’s therapeutic. It also gives me an opportunity to express myself,” Pearce said of his art. “Being that I was a kid who was extremely shy and didn’t want to speak in front of crowds or anything like that for the longest time, art was my way of communicating what I wanted to without having to actually physically speak in front of people. So I think that’s ultimately how I was able to use art as an outlet for certain things. 

“Now I’m still using art as another outlet to start conversations that are important and just express things that I feel that need to be expressed.” 

Pearce’s time at Purchase College, from which he graduated in 2018, helped put him on the path to his surreal reality. 

His opportunity to join the Globetrotters stemmed from his appearance in the 2018 State Farm College Slam Dunk Contest. His entry into the dunk competition was made possible through a fan-driven voting contest for the final spot, which his sports information director at Purchase College suggested he enter. Pearce, the only Division III player in the dunk contest, finished third. In the process, he caught the eye of a Globetrotters representative, setting off a chain of events that also led him to being the first Division III basketball player featured on two video games: NBA 2K and NBA Live. 

“To be able to completely go against the grain in regard to the stereotypes that are placed on Division III athletes was a really cool experience. I really felt a sense of pride with Division III being that I went to a small high school, so I know what it’s like to have a chip on my shoulder to represent something that’s constantly underrepresented,” he said. “I really wore that like a badge of honor, coming from Division III, being the only Division III participant in the dunk contest, being the first Division III athlete to be fully featured in two video games. All of those things have stuck with me, and that’s definitely kept me grounded in this journey so far.”

In joining the Globetrotters in 2018, Pearce said he was jumping on an opportunity that “embodies the spirit of me being artist.” Nicknamed “HOPS” for his 48-inch vertical, Pearce’s artistry on the court is on full display as a dunker. 

One of his viral dunks was played on an episode of “Ridiculousness,” an MTV show that brought celebrities on to react to a variety of viral videos. The guest of his episode? The late Kobe Bryant. In 2020, Pearce and a friend created a video that was recognized as an ESPN ESPY Award nominee in the “Can’t Stop Watching Moment of the Year” category.  

“Ever since I’ve been able to do it, I just always refer to it as an art of its own because there’s just so many things that you can do — the bounds of creativity are limitless,” he said. “I’ve incorporated a dog. I’ve incorporated a baseball glove. I’ve incorporated a football, just so many different things into the art of dunking. That was a way that I could display my artistic version of motion via basketball. There’s definitely a natural crossover there.” 

Pearce’s art also features an overlap of the two worlds. Much of his work brings awareness to an aspect of sports he’s passionate about: athlete advocacy. Some of his pieces honor legendary Black athletes and civil rights activists like Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Colin Kaepernick and Wilma Rudolph. One of his favorite pieces, “Sitting Down to Stand Up,” recognizes four WNBA players — Natasha Cloud, Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes and Renee Montgomery — who “prioritized our humanity over their sport by sacrificing a year of their seasons to focus on racial and social issues,” Pearce said in an Instagram post. The four opted out of the 2020 WNBA season to focus on their racial justice efforts. The piece is now displayed in the Westchester County Sports Hall of Fame, a location especially meaningful to Pearce, as it’s where he played his final high school basketball game and where he graduated from Purchase College with a degree in economics. 

The piece, like much of Pearce’s art, reinforces an important message: Athletes, especially Black athletes, are more than the sport they play. 

It’s something he tries to get across to current athletes through his nonprofit organization, The Flynance Organization, which aims to give aspiring young athletes the resources necessary to become successful on and off the basketball court. He and a friend started the organization after winning a competition modeled after “Shark Tank” as college seniors. 

“One of the epidemics in sports is athletes are not ready to put the ball down. I’ve seen that with my teammates, especially at the Division III level. That was our mission, to prepare athletes for that time,” Pearce said. “So we’ve given out some scholarships. Lately we’ve partnered with a few schools in Westchester County to essentially expose them to different things that they might be passionate about. Those passions can essentially save you from being pigeonholed into this one sport, and when it’s time to walk away from that sport, you have something else that you’ve already put hours and time and energy into.

“That thing for me was art.”