How losing his brother taught Aaron Gordon ‘what life is really about’ By Mirin Fader April 22, 2026 Aaron Gordon kept coming back to the canvas, back to the brush. Day after day, painting what he felt. What seemed stuck inside. What he couldn’t express on the basketball court — or anywhere else. He called the painting “Caged Bird.” “It’s about following the present moment,” Gordon says, “to avoid being trapped.” When he’s painting, he feels some peace. Normalcy. Unlike much of the outside world, things seem to make more sense here. In a room by himself, painting, he doesn’t have to be perfect. He doesn’t have to perform. There is no one to impress. It’s just “me, the canvas and my thoughts,” says Gordon, a Denver Nuggets forward. The practice comforts him. “Being able to take out that emotion, and create something beautiful with it,” Gordon says. “Before painting, it’s almost like there’s an angst, and almost like an anxiety … and then you just flow, your picture starts to come to fruition. It’s this level of fulfillment, almost like a release.” He had only taken one art class in high school and had no extensive knowledge of oil painting. But he loved the challenge of something novel. He began to think about the deeper intention behind his creations; why he was becoming so meticulous with each stroke. Why he was trying to discover beauty in each painting, no matter how far each strayed from his original idea. He realized painting was less about the product and more about the experience. About what his soul needed. Which led him to “The Caged Bird.”
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