« NO WAY ! ” In the moment, Anaïa Hoard fails to realize and cries out in surprise. A phone call from a teammate has just awakened her from her sleep: Have you seen Instagram? She connects to the social network. His notifications, which do not stop, number in the hundreds. The explanation? She published one of her works, a portrait of Chris Paul. And the latter… reposted it on his own account.
And ” crazy thing recalls the Franco-American who, at the time, hastens to call her family. ” It’s fast for pure pleasure, literally. I expect nothing in return, I draw and basta. “But this day in January 2021, his life” Rocking. I went from 400 to 11,000 subscribers overnight. »
This sudden exposure will allow him to play a little more on his two favorite fields: basketball and art. In the first of two, Anaïa Hoard already has a good track record. The 21-year-old represented France at international level and notably won a gold medal at the European U-16 championship in 2017, as well as a silver medal at the U-17 world championship in 2017.
Passed by INSEP, where she had to focus on basketball as a priority, she continued her career at the American University of Wake Forest (from which a certain Chris Paul graduated), where she was able to combine her passion for basketball with art studies. ” I have always wanted to play pro, in the France team, in the WNBA, or in Europe. But I also wanted to follow second passion which was art “, entrusted to Basketball USA the person concerned who developed her artistic qualities from a very young age, completely self-taught.
The NBA hadn’t made the connection with his brother
His two years at Wake Forest? ” It didn’t go well “says the native of Évreux without wanting to say more. As a result, after going through a period where she no longer wanted to ” hear about basketball “, his practice is ” in suspense ” for the moment. She always trains on her own, without looking for a club.
She can therefore devote more time to her other passion, which took another turn last November. The ” crazy thing “That day is an email received from the NBA. She is offered to be one of the ambassadors of an artistic project set up on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the big league. For the occasion, “NBA Creator Series” called upon creators from Greece, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Anaïa Hoard, who then just collaborated with the ATP, wonders how her name could have attracted the attention of the league. ” Maybe through Chris Paul? Maybe Jaylen? In fact they typed ‘art’ and ‘basket’, and it matched. They hadn’t made the connection with my brother. They were even more into the concept when they discovered it. »
Commissioned by the big league, with a nice cachet, the Montpellier player produced four portraits, which will be used for several NBA campaigns: Tony ParkerNicolas Batum, Rudy Gobert et Evan Fournier. « I had carte blanche on the form but I had to stick to a theme to represent France. These are four players that I watched when I was young, that I heard about every day at INSEP. I had the opportunity to talk with them in the past, they are super friendly. »
Aim for hyper-realism
How to achieve such breathtaking realism that emerges from his works? At the start, he has to choose the right photo. The photo that speaks to her. ” It’s very crucial to see if I have a connection with the athlete, if I find an emotion. Gradually, I stopped on hyper-realism. That’s where I saw the most difficulty, to capture someone’s soul. It’s a good challenge. »
This is what the competitor likes, we will have understood, as much on a parquet floor as on a table. Working with charcoal is also a great challenge. ” It’s grain, it’s not fixed, super fragile, it flies away with a gust of wind. There is this complex side. And I like the base color. I found that black and white suited me well. It also allowed me to draw faster, especially with my athletic schedule. »
To be sure to be faithful to her model, Anaïa Hoard is used to making a video call to her companion. “ No, there it doesn’t look like LeBron at all, you’re off the mark! “, was able to answer this one. For example, it took four days for the artist, a fan of the artistic works of CJ Hendry, Kehinde Wiley or Robin Kid, to sign a portrait of the star of the Lakers. Sometimes it takes a lot longer.
So many hours of work that she does not devote to the parquet floors. A choice that has not always convinced his big brother, Jaylen Hoard, who now plays away from the NBA, at Hapoel Tel Aviv. ” It wasn’t too hot at first but he saw that it worked very well. “Other collaborations, on which she prefers not to dwell, are already taking shape for the artist. Who ends up confessing: Honestly, I miss basketball. I am athletic at heart, I have to move. Especially since it often helps me a lot in my art. ” A voucher ” balance to find to continue to evolve on both counts.
Photo : Anaia Hoard
