DENVER (KDVR) — Baseball fans in Denver for the MLB All-Star Game are finding some unique artwork as a souvenir.
S. Preston loves sports, baseball and art. He found a way to combine all of them and is maximizing on his minimalist approach.
Preston is a licensed sports artist specializing in minimalism, and he’s been an illustrator all his life. About eight years ago, he started a minimalist ballpark project and shared a picture on social media.
“I went to bed that night thinking nothing of it. Next thing you know, my phone was bouncing. It was ESPN, Sports Illustrated, whole bunch of other media outlets. They loved it. They’re shared it. It was a pretty surreal moment,” Preston said.
Shortly after that, Major League Baseball called.
“I got licensed with the league. Quickly after that, The Hall of Fame called me. They said, ‘We really want you to donate one of each to the Hall of Fame.’ I was like — a little bit of a goose-bump moment for me. It is in the Hall of Fame Archives, so I will always be part of baseball history,” he said.
His images of all 30 stadiums are now in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He doesn’t draw players, and he stays away from logos, but his artwork speaks volumes to fans of the sport.
“For example, Coors field: I just did the purple row. No one in the world knows what that is unless you’re a Rockies fan. That’s the concept of minimalism: less is more,” he said.
Each year, he creates a special piece just for the All-Star Game. This year, it is a baseball diamond featuring the Rocky Mountains and the sunrise.
Fans come from all over the country to meet him, too, like the Sloger family from Fairbanks, Alaska.
Ryan Sloger said he thought the “single aspect of the stadium under the spotlight was really neat.”
He is also licensed with Looney Toons and is one of the only artists to combine sports with cartoon characters.
You could say S. Preston has hit a home run.