World Cup brought to life through art
By Adam Stocker
For the World Cup, Bleacher Report commissioned artist Brandan Odums to create three murals, featuring three of the world’s biggest soccer stars.
Walk down the streets of New Orleans, Miami or New York City and you might come across one of the giant murals created by artist Brandan Odums for the World Cup. If you don’t see them in person, there’s a good chance you’ve seen at least one of the murals on your social media feed.
As part of the World Cup festivities, Bleacher Report commissioned Odums to help bring the World Cup to life through. A New Orleans native, Odums rose to fame through his work in his home city following Hurricane Katrina. Odums has spent his career turning run-down buildings and factories into works of art.
Bleacher Report wanted to work with Odums to create something different, something memorable that stood out. The project was led by Bleacher Report senior producer Ryan O’Leary, who described the project as amazing, ambitious and a little bit insane.
O’Leary worked with Odums to design three murals in three cities, each one featuring a different player: France’s Paul Pogba, Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and Brazil’s Neymar. The obvious question: Why them?
O’Leary’s answer was simple. The three players represented a changing of the guard, a next generation of stars. With Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo playing in what could be their final World Cups, Bleacher Report wanted to look to the future, while also showing the three players were as big if not bigger than LeBron James or any other American athlete.
O’Leary went on to describe each player individually. He described Salah as a fresh face who burst onto the scene with an incredible season with Liverpool, helping lead them to the Champions League final. O’Leary pointed out the joy Salah plays with.
In New York City, the mural of Salah is found some 17 stories above the ground at the intersection of 51st and Broadway. The mural is 2800 square feet and took Odums four days to complete. In it, Salah is in front of a red background with a white circle around his head. In many ways, the white represents a halo. For Eygpt, Salah is the chosen one, even if he couldn’t lead them out of the group stage for the first time in their World Cup history. Salah’s trademark curly hair and beard are covered in flowers and images of Salah celebrating.
In Miami, Odums created a mural of Brazilian superstar Neymar on the side of a 10,000 square foot building. Originally, the building was pink and blue, but there are no signs of either color now. The building is covered in the green of the Brazilian flag. Odums had to speed up his process in Miami as rain was on its way, forcing him to complete the project a day earlier than planned.
The end result: Neymar in front of the Brazilian flag. An image that represents the hopes of one country on their star player. O’Leary described Neymar as a player under pressure, the player to ring in a new era of Brazilian dominance on the world stage. Neymar’s hair also features flowers, leaves and a player celebrating.
In his hometown of New Orleans, Odums created a mural of Pogba. Similar the Salah mural, Pogba’s head is inside of a white circle that sits on a red background. Just like the Neymar mural, Pogba’s body is blue, giving the mural all three colors of the French flag. Pogba’s hair also features flowers and players celebrating. One player is dabbing, while another has both index fingers pointing to the sky. O’Leary described Pogba as a conflicted superstar. A player that has failed to match his off-field personality with his on-field ability under Jose Mourinho.
The hair is a common thread and focal point for all three murals. Asked why, O’Leary said it was a commonality between the three players. That each of the players had a unique hairstyle that made them stand out.
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For O’Leary and Bleacher Report, the response has been unbelievable. While O’Leary initially set the bar low, saying it was a success because it happened, the murals have become what he described as a tent pole event for Bleacher Report. The players wanted to be involved in the process and were instantly onboard when they were approached.
Both Pogba and Neymar were involved as the project was carried out, though a foot injury prevented Neymar from participating as he would have liked. When Salah shared a preview video of him on Instagram, more than 20,000 people commented. That told O’Leary that they had something special.