Courtside is designed using the combinations of geometric surfaces of various athletic courts. As a result of his many years as a competitive athlete, Swider Peltz has long been curious about the common boundaries that visually form as athletic teams or people compete against each other.

“I’ve played a lot of sports in the past and played on a lot of different surfaces. But there is a commonality with most sports. The areas where the athletes compete have lines that tell you where to go and have shapes that mean specific things. I wanted to explore that commonality of the playing surfaces that give sport a shared language.

Swider Peltz combined the shapes of the courts used for basketball, hockey, roller derby and volleyball to create a colorful composition of the defined athletic surface. With a nod to Milwaukee’s sports history, he incorporates elements of the legendary pop art Mecca floor designed by artist Robert Indiana that served as the game floor of the Milwaukee Bucks from 1974-95.

The variety of the surfaces within Courtside point to the variety of surfaces athletes play on, while the colors reflect the vibrant culture of athletic fashion and athletic arenas around the globe.

“It was important to me that the piece brightened up the space inside Baird Center. There is a lot of color and vibrant shapes which I think makes it fun. Because that ultimately is the essence of sports, we play them because they are fun and I wanted everyone who visits Baird Center to share in that fun.”

Courtside Remix takes the defined lines and geometric shapes found with athletic playing surfaces and blows them up.

“In Courtside I place the courts in their defined positions and overlaid shapes that I find interesting about the specific sports. With Courtside Remix I use the same shapes and lines found in Courtside but remove them from their defined positions. Courtside Remix is not an overlay, instead it takes the shapes, colors and lines and uses them in a fragmented manner, freeing them of their confinement. By removing the rules of an athletic playing surface, it almost gives the individual elements more importance.”

The observer will still find the bright colors and shapes of international sports within Courtside Remix. Swider Peltz incorporates the colors of international flags and athletic arenas that he enjoyed during his athletic career.

“This is really the rich mix of color that you experience when you go to each rink or competitive space across the world. You see the flags lined up in a row, showing a type of unity of people. The entire rainbow of colors is represented but within the rainbow are specific colors that represent different countries.”