Growing up in Perth, Australia, Alex Sugar couldn't help but realize that the hometown Australian rules football team shared the same mascot as Philadelphia's NFL team.
He kept an eagle eye on the American team that played more than 11,500 miles from Australia.
Little did he know that he would be able to one day work with that team on a unique project.
An internationally featured artist with murals featured throughout Australia, the United States, and Europe, Sugar was at Philadelphia's Arch Enemy Arts this past summer for his first solo exhibition outside his home country when he was approached by Eagles Senior Designer Matthew Schwenk, who oversees the team's Gameday Poster project. Schwenk challenged Sugar, whose work "reimagines everyday objects and scenes through fresh, unexpected perspectives," to conceptualize the art that would bless millions of Eagles' fans social media feeds first thing on the morning of the monster matchup with another bird mascot, the Baltimore Ravens.
Challenge accepted.
"The process went really smooth I think," Sugar said. "Matt and I threw some ideas around and I'm really happy with end result."
The Ravens lean heavily into Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem, The Raven, so Sugar leveraged his penchant for natural landscapes and flipped the script with an eagle as the dominant victor after what appeared to be a grisly battle.
Sugar said before the release of the poster that he was confident that the Eagles were going to come out on top and the poster reflected that.
"Giving gameday a fresh look, showing pride in our team, and knowing they're going to crush the Ravens!" Sugar exclaimed.
He was right. The Eagles declawed the Ravens' top-ranked offense in a 24-19 triumph for Philadelphia's eighth straight win.
Who would have known that cheering for his favorite team from the other side of the world would eventually lead to a sweet chance to collaborate with them to help set the mood ahead of the NFL's marquee game of the week?
"Couldn't have been happier," Sugar said. "Really appreciative for this opportunity!"
