If you think Kobe Bryant’s domestic fan base is rabid, you clearly don’t understand the limitless depth of his popularity in Asia. This bizarre and frightening statue of the Los Angeles Lakers legend at a Basketball Art Exhibition in Taiwan is a proper representation of just how crazy basketball fans abroad can be for the Black Mamba, too.
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. That is indeed a sculpture of a semi-nude Bryant being hugged – or smothered? – by a giant snake. The folks at Lakers Nation have more on this mind-bending Taiwanese tribute to Kobe.
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.
Below is proof that the so-called Black Mamba depicted is actually biting the achilles that Bryant ruptured at the end of the 2012-2013 season. And no, we still don’t understand why Kobe and the serpent are enemies.
But that’s not even our favorite aspect of this work of art. Look at the burning optic intensity and trademark jaw-jut of Huang’s Bryant replica.
Uncanny. That might as well be Kobe in the flesh.
This has us longing for more Lakers-themed artwork. And is there a tableau that so succinctly sums up the state of the franchise more worthy of being depicted than this one?
We think not, and are pretty sure Swaggy P would agree. Get on it, artists, and let us know the price once you’ve finished.
(All photos courtesy of Lakers Nation)
Is this sculpture beautiful or awe-inspiring?
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