See the new Tyrese Haliburton mural in Indianapolis
Take a look at the new Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton mural created by artist William Minion.
The side of a downtown barbershop is now home to a new Tyrese Haliburton mural anchored by a stunningly realistic portrait of the Pacers star that shifts to an abstraction of the way he moves on the court.
“Around the time of the (NBA) finals, I wanted to do something. There was a lot of energy in the city, and I wanted to kind of add to that,” said artist William Minion, 24.
The mural — the third in the Keepers of Culture series from cultural development firm Ganggang — was unveiled at XG Groom Room barber shop, 417 E. Ohio St., on Tuesday, just two days before the fifth annual Butter. The fine art fair, which spotlights Black artists from Indiana and around the world, runs from Aug. 28 to 31 at the Stutz.
While Minion came up with the idea for the mural during the Pacers’ deep NBA playoff run earlier this year, the project didn’t come together until he joined the first cohort of the Launch Lab, the program for young entrepreneurs who want to pursue creative endeavors.
Across eight weeks this past summer, Minion and 10 other lab participants sought to learn more about their chosen pursuits, which, along with Minion’s art, included videographers, designers and photographers. Ganggang, the Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center and Employ Indy teamed up to put on the lab. Participants listened to guest experts who discussed how to forge connections in creative industries, how to achieve financial success and how to strengthen their work through collaboration, said Nigel Long, Ganggang’s director of the Indianapolis market.
At the end of the program, the participants received $2,500 for their business, he said.
“It’s about focusing on how they invest in themselves,” Long said. “It’s giving them the basics that they need about just business or cost or what should I charge, how do I market myself to get jobs with people?”
For Minion, the lab and Long helped connect him with the owner of the barber shop so he could make his mural idea a reality. The long wall gave the artist the opportunity to explore several facets of Haliburton’s impact. From right to left, Minion’s piece transitions from the portrait to a picture of the basketball player celebrating, accentuated with lines that echo his excitement, and then to a buzzing rod of light that highlights the star’s role as a facilitator on the court.
“The realism is just the truth of him, I guess you could say, and then the abstract portrait right next to him is meant to embody moreso just his energy and his competitive atmosphere as an athlete,” Minion said.
“This abstract stuff happening here on the furthest left is just signifying the thread that went through shapes, adding cohesion and coordination to the other shapes. That’s kind of what he tends to do on the court.”
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Contact IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at 317-444-7339 or d.bongiovanni@indystar.com. Sign up here for the newsletter she curates about things to do and ways to explore Indianapolis. Find her on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter: @domenicareports.