British contemporary artist King Overman launched his practice in 2021 and quickly became known for monumental, life‑size portraits of cultural icons—especially basketball legends in his ongoing Ballers series. Based in Manchester, his collectors include filmmaker Spike Lee and NBA Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins. Lee’s collection notably features a seven‑foot Patrick Ewing canvas, profiled by the New York Post, while Wilkins received his own life‑size portrait direct from the studio (New York Post, Instagram).
Works from Lee’s collection have been shown at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles (see the artist’s post on his Toni Morrison painting: Instagram) and in the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition Spike Lee: Creative Sources(October 7, 2023–February 11, 2024). Overman documents process and scale through reels on Instagram—time‑lapses and start‑to‑finish videos that have reached millions of viewers.
Expanding into digital work, Overman’s debut NFT collection—Hands, by King Overman—translates his life‑size portraits into animated and video pieces created with CompatibleCreative founder Sebastian Markiewicz and scored by YouTuber DJ Furio. The OpenSea drop outlines the concept’s evolution from five acrylic‑on‑vinyl originals to moving‑image and turntable videos, echoing the upbeat, 90s‑leaning sound palette often heard in his studio clips.
