A Giant Soccer Ball Just Became Bal Harbour’s Most Talked-About Art Installation

Bal Harbour Village is turning 80 this year, and it is celebrating the way only Miami knows how: with a monumental sculpture on the beach that has no business being as compelling as it is.

The installation is 12 Pentagons, a larger-than-life “Badly Drawn Ball” by British multidisciplinary artist and football designer Jon-Paul Wheatley. Originally unveiled at Bal Harbour Shops in June, the sculpture has relocated to Bal Harbour Village Beach at 96th Street, where it will be on view through July 27. Against the backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean, it has transformed one of Miami’s most pristine stretches of waterfront into an open-air gallery, and in doing so, has become one of the most visually striking public art moments of the summer.

Photo Credit: Bal Harbour Village

The Artist Behind the Ball

Jon-Paul Wheatley is the founder of 12 Pentagons, a globally recognized football design studio, and the creator of the Badly Drawn Ball series, a body of work that has turned one of sport’s most recognizable objects into something that sits comfortably at the intersection of collectible design and contemporary sculpture. Through his platform @jonpaulsballs, Wheatley handcrafts one-of-one soccer balls and has built a following of more than 1.7 million in the process. His collaborations include FIFA, Adidas, and Burberry, and his presence in the contemporary art world has grown steadily through a series of international exhibitions and cultural partnerships.

The Badly Drawn Ball series began with something disarmingly simple: hand-drawn soccer ball sketches submitted by people around the world. The premise is that most people, when asked to draw a soccer ball from memory, get it wrong in their own specific way, and that those imperfections, the lopsided hexagons, the wrong proportions, the earnest attempts, are actually more interesting than a technically perfect rendering. Wheatley took that idea and scaled it into a monumental sculpture that transforms a universally recognized symbol into something that invites reflection and, depending on who you ask, makes you want to immediately try drawing one yourself.

Why It Works in Bal Harbour

The move from Bal Harbour Shops to the beach is not just a change of scenery. It is a change of context that gives the work an entirely new dimension. Framed by the ocean, the sculpture creates a dialogue between contemporary art and coastal landscape that feels specific to Miami, a city that has spent the better part of the last decade establishing itself as a serious destination for public art and cultural programming. Bal Harbour Village, which has long positioned itself at the intersection of luxury, design, and hospitality, is a fitting host for an installation that takes a populist subject, the soccer ball, and elevates it without losing what made it interesting in the first place.

The timing is also deliberate. Miami is in the middle of a summer defined by global football, and Wheatley’s work speaks directly to that moment without feeling opportunistic. The Badly Drawn Ball is not football merchandise. It is a sculpture that uses football as a starting point for something broader: a conversation about creativity, imperfection, and the way a single object can carry an entire world of meaning depending on where you are standing when you look at it.

Beyond Bal Harbour

The Bal Harbour installation is one piece of a larger summer for Wheatley. His work is currently being showcased through a multi-city exhibition with The Hoxton, where hotel lobbies in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland have been transformed into gallery spaces featuring his handcrafted soccer ball sculptures. The Hoxton partnership also includes a global competition, The Badly Drawn Ball, which invites the public to draw a soccer ball from memory for a chance to win a stay at any Hoxton hotel alongside exclusive 12 Pentagons goods.

The competition, which sounds simple and is actually very difficult once you try it, is the kind of participatory moment that extends the work far beyond the gallery or the beachfront installation. It turns the audience into collaborators, which has always been the point.

See It Before It’s Gone

The 12 Pentagons installation at Bal Harbour Village Beach is on view through July 27, free and open to the public at 96th Street. It is the kind of thing that photographs well and lands even better in person, particularly at the hour when the light coming off the ocean hits the sculpture in a way that makes the whole scene feel like it was designed by someone who knew exactly what they were doing.

Because it was.