New Yorkers have not responded well to the departure of unlikely Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin, a perceived slight so deeply felt that even artists are incorporating it into their work. Most prominent, perhaps, may be a new painting by Queens native Andrew Kuo, whose new piece in Mitchell-Innes & Nash’s summer group show — “In Plain Sight” (through August 17) — pits Lin against a famous Jeff Koons sculpture.

The painting, “Tallboy” (2012), shows Lin facing away from the viewer, contemplating both the can of what looks like Budweiser on the floor, and a decidedly downtrodden version of Koons’s “One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank” (1985). Though that piece belongs to Dakis Joannou, and a two-ball version was sold at Christie’s in 2011 for $4.2 million, New Yorkers can perhaps take some tiny amount of solace from the fact that unlike Lin, one Koons basketball piece, “Three Ball 50/50 Tank (Two Dr. J. Silver Series, One Wilson Supershot),” is staying in New York for the long haul.

— Benjamin Sutton

Tags: Andrew Kuo, Benjamin Sutton, Jeff Koons, Jeremy Lin, Mitchell-Innes and Nash, Sports