Artist hits a home run

By Aaron Short

The Yankees may be out of the postseason, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy a little baseball — in a Greenpoint art gallery.

Artist Amelie Mancini will open a new solo show, “Sacrebleu! Napoleon Would Have Made A Fine Shortstop,” featuring nostalgic portraits of New York baseball players at Yashar Gallery in the ground floor of her Greenpoint Avenue studio tonight. 

Mancini, born in France, but now a native Brooklynite, began painting Hall of Famers after attending a Mets game at the old Shea Stadium a few years ago and becoming “actively obsessed” with the sport and its history.

“It’s part of the experience of coming to America from a different country,” said Mancini, explaining her obsession. “Baseball is so essentially American, and a complex and interesting game, that it attracts expatriates easily.”

Mancini chose to profile Hall of Famers including Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Sandy Koufax and Jackie Robinson (pictured) who have contributed significantly to the game’s reputation and Brooklyn’s romantic relationship with the nation’s pastime.

Each portrait in her series consists of six smaller canvases assembled into a larger painting that recreates a moment of the player’s greatness such as hitting a home run or stealing home plate — in Robinson’s case.

The portraits themselves resemble baseball cards with a ball player in game-action in the foreground, but the background contains empty houses and arches in faux-marble to reflect the simple and powerful undisturbed geometry of extinct baseball stadiums such as Ebbets Field.

Mancini’s Robinson portrait is a standout in the collection, displaying the smiling iconic ballplayer surrounded by a pentagonal-shaped home plate and a sea of Dodger blue with a sharp crimson border — which Mancini made a symbol of Robinson’s internal anger after breaking the major league’s racial barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

“Amelie Mancini: Sacrebleu! Napoleon Would Have Made A Fine Shortstop” at Yashar Gallery [276 Greenpoint Ave. at Provost Street in Greenpoint, (718) 715-5671]. Opening night party on Nov. 2, 6–9 pm.