It was only last year when Kobe Bryant was first known to have had a statue raised in his honor overseas and as of today, there are five different sculptures of the Black Mamba with many people awaiting one in front of his own home, STAPLES Center.
The first statue was discovered last summer in China in front of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts Sculpture Museum. It’s simple and stoic as Kobe stands with a ball under his left arm and the Lakers emblem along with the number 24 clearly visible.
The second and third statues are new, recently placed at the entrance to Nike’s newly designed “House of Mamba,” where Kobe recently spent five days training participants in Nike’s RISE Campaign. Two identical statues stand outside of the building, a representation of one of Kobe’s iconic dunks during the 2008 Olympics where the statues bear the number 10.
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The fourth and fifth are relatively smaller, but not less impressive. The fourth is actually a Kickstarter project which features hand made marble statues of Bryant, LeBron James and Leo Messi.
The fifth and last, while smaller in size could be the most intriguing. Measuring 68 x 50 x 50 cm and made of FRP (fiber glass reinforced plastics), it features Kobe raising a basketball high in the air with a giant Black Mamba wrapped around — the head of the snake biting the Achilles. The figure has been in Santa Monica as part of an exhibiton before, appropiately named “Achilles” and designed by Roger Huang. It is on display now at the “Conscious 3” Basketball Art Exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan until August 24.
With all of these figures already in place, you can only wonder what a Kobe statue would look like outside STAPLES Center. In the meantime, check out the photos above and let us know which art figure does the best job in representing Kobe Bryant and which if any, comes closer to what you might like to see outside STAPLES Center at some point in the future.
Photo Credit: Roger Huang
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