Almost anything can be displayed and interpreted as art. Gone are the days of one dimension, square canvases and flat walls. While relevant art has often been reserved for serious, old world styles and topics, for many people nothing is more sacred and display-worthy than their favorite sports team. The New York Giants are one of the most celebrated football teams of all time. One of their jerseys could certainly be considered an installation of true art.
Working the room
Perhaps you’d like to display your piece according to the room in which it is displayed. The obvious choice is a sports room or man cave, with your beloved jersey alongside your tickets and photos in a shadow box frame, surrounded by the rest of your sports memorabilia. However, in a living room or family room, you may want to go more traditional and majestic by displaying your jersey on a bust of any material, perched on a pedestal in a location where people can view it from a 360-degree angle. In the kitchen, several jerseys could be gathered as curtains or valances. An incredibly unique choice would be to seal your jersey air tight between two shower curtains and turn your master bathroom into a shrine to your team.
Away from home
Art is displayed everywhere in the world around us and you may be concerned with how to display your jersey while keeping it safe from elements or theft. In an office or business setting, locking cases that hang flat against the wall are fairly common. As seen in old movie theaters, the cases open so you can arrange your pieces as if they were on the wall, and then close and lock the glass front to protect the contents.
The options for showing a cloth garment outside depend a lot on whether you want the jersey to maintain its original form and consistency or whether you are prepared to create a permanent piece of art. Imagine a life-size torso constructed of chicken wire and shaped like an athlete in motion. Then your jersey is put over the form and completely covered in many layers of shellac. You are left with somewhat of a statue of your jersey making a game-winning play. If you wanted to add intrigue, you could dirty it up before applying the shellac and even consider adding the pants, shoes and helmet for a complete look. The inner frame to hold an entire body of chicken wire could be constructed from metal rods. You could have the entire defensive line assembled on your lawn.
Stardom, art and beauty are always found in the eye of their admirers and your New York Giants jersey is no exception. There are no rules and any one of these ideas, or a million others that could be born from their inspiration, are only limited by your creativity and space. The ideal route to a masterpiece is to remove limits in your mind and decide exactly what you want to see and feel when you’re done.