Gene Luen Yang

Part of Bay Area Walls
Opened August 31, 2024
Floor 2

Gene Luen Yang, Bay Area Hoops, 2024 (installation view); photo: Don Ross

About

Comics artist and writer Gene Luen Yang’s mural features the stories of three athletes from local basketball teams — Stephen Curry, Jeremy Lin, and Fran Belibi — and links them to three aspects of the game: the three-point shot, the pick and roll, and the slam dunk. Yang is the creator of Dragon Hoops, the acclaimed nonfiction graphic novel centered on the varsity boys’ basketball team at Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High School and their triumphant 2014–15 season. Celebrated for his formal innovation and intricate storytelling, Yang believes that comics can illuminate everything from difficult histories to individual identities.

Artist Interview

Gene Luen Yang: On Basketball and His First Museum Commission

Fans know cartoonist and Bay Area native Gene Luen Yang for graphic novels, including American Born Chinese, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Dragon Hoops. Yang recently expanded his reach with his first museum work, Bay Area Hoops, a basketball-focused commission for SFMOMA’s Bay Area Walls series.

More Bay Area Walls Commissions

Learn about past and present commissions through interviews, behind-the-scenes stories, photographs, and more. See upcoming commissions and learn more about the series by visiting the Bay Area Walls exhibition page.

Reggie Burrows Hodges

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The presenting sponsor for Bay Area Walls is Gap Inc.

Major support is provided by the Roberta and Steve Denning Commissioning Endowed Fund.

Generous support is provided by the Patricia W. Fitzpatrick Commissioning Endowed Fund, Diana Nelson and John Atwater Commissioning Fund, and the Denise Littlefield Sobel Commissioning Endowed Fund.