Micah Johnson and Matt Szczur

It’s not often you hear a Major League Baseball player trading in his bat for a paint brush but that is exactly what Micah Johnson did in 2018. What started as a way to escape the anxiety and pressure of playing a professional sport has turned into a full-time vocation. His works that feature strong gestural charcoal lines complemented with subtle vibrant colors have been collected through out the world. His most recent works, featuring his 3 nephews, are inspired by a question his 4 year-old nephew asked his mom one day, “Mom, can astronauts be black”. By exhibiting his nephews in powerful scenes, his works aim to inspire young black kids, as well as others, to never give up on their dreams, regardless of societal views.

Matt Szczur is a baseball player currently in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. He was a World Series champion with the Chicago Cubs back in 2016. Matt has recently began a separate career in the art world mainly selling baseball influenced paintings as well as print editions.

This project is truly a unique collaboration between two athletes. Matt Szczur and Micah Johnson came together in the name of racial solidarity and equality to create a powerful painting of George Floyd. By exhibiting two contrasting styles on a single canvas, this work aims to exemplify how it is possible for people of all color, style, and creeds to be one cohesive body. Nifty Gateway and both artists are donating proceeds from the original painting and NFTs toward various initiatives fighting these injustices in the black community.