This Year’s Super Bowl Will Be the Most Artful Ever

Thousands of football fans will soon be heading to Miami to watch the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs square off in Super Bowl LIV, and the city is welcoming visitors in true Magic City style.

“Art has become such an important part of Miami culture, and the NFL was really interested in embracing that,” says Jessica Goldman Srebnick, founder and CEO of Goldman Global Arts, which collaborated with the NFL on all the art activations in Miami surrounding this year’s Super Bowl. “What people are going to see with this particular project, with this particular Super Bowl, I don’t think anyone has seen art on a stage like this before. I think it’s just the beginning, and I really credit the NFL for being so deeply supportive of it. It’s really exciting.”

Artist Tristan Eaton’s holographic Super Bowl LIV program. Photo: Courtesy of Goldman Global Arts

After narrowing down the project goals, Goldman Global Arts set about vetting artists for each unique installation and art activation. Los Angeles–based muralist Tristan Eaton created a multilayered image for the program—including one holographic version—and tickets that capture all the excitement of the event as well as the culmination of the NFL’s 100th anniversary milestone. “Tristan was the perfect person to be able to marry art and sports,” Srebnick tells Galerie. “It has an immense amount of texture and color, and it touches on so many elements. It reads Miami. It reads fans, it reads history, it reads iconic figures, it reads all the emotion and tradition you think of when you think of football. All of those things he managed to capture in one piece. It’s beautiful.”

The tickets for Super Bowl LIV in Miami will feature an original design by artist Tristan Eaton. Photo: Goldman Global Arts

Additionally, muralist Kelsey Montague, whose Instagrammable works include a massive painting at the nearby Wynwood Walls, has created an interactive piece customized around the Chiefs and 49ers. “I love her work because it’s whimsical, it’s charming, it’s fun, and it’s incredibly interactive,” says Srebnick.

Kelsey Montague with one of her interactive murals at Wynwood Walls. Photo: Nika Kramer

Capturing ten iconic moments over the NFL’s 100-year history fell to multidisciplinary artist Joe Iurato, who created a scavenger hunt of works around Miami that can be located using the app ONEPASS while Kelly Graval, aka Risk, was tasked with creating a massive mural at Super Bowl Live, which is a free, open-to-the-public area surrounding the main event. Finally, Chilean artist Dasic Fernández is creating a 27-story wrap on the Citigroup Center in downtown Miami that celebrates the diversity of football fans in the artist’s signature vibrant style. “We wanted to be sure that everybody had access to the art, so they were put in different places,” Srebnick tells Galerie. “Not everybody is going to get a Super Bowl ticket or a program, so we wanted to be able to curate how the work was seen.”

Joe Iurato at work. Photo: Courtesy of Goldman Global Arts

Long before it was selected to host this year’s Super Bowl, Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium has featured unique art elements, something not seen anywhere else in the NFL. Splashed across the arena’s walls are large-scale murals by Tristan Eaton, Dasic Fernández, and Goldman Global Arts cofounder Peter Tunney, who also created a limited-edition Wilson football for Super Bowl LIV. “I’m such an ambassador for my city as well as an ambassador for all things creative,” says Srebnick. “It is an incredible opportunity for Miami and for people to see what Miami has become in the last ten years since we’ve had a Super Bowl. And to know the NFL is so deeply committed to showcasing Miami in such a creative light is really exciting.”