After his Dwyane Wade statue was set on fire by social media users, sculptor Omri Armany broke his silence on criticism of his latest creation.
The eight-foot bust of the Miami Heat legend was unveiled outside Kaseya Center on Sunday. However, many fans torched the statue for being outside the base, claiming it looked nothing like the three-time champion it was meant to honor.
Speak with Front office sports On Monday, Armany shared his response to the criticism, revealing Wade’s painstaking involvement in the statue’s creation.
“I want to be an artist who creates an immediate response and you can’t expect the entire human society to have a positive response,” Amrany told the outlet.
‘Some people have a crazy or angry reaction. That’s not because of what the art itself is, but because of the feeling it gives them. So if this is my part of being a psychologist, fine.’
Sculptor Omri Amany spoke out after his Dwyane Wade statue in Miami was heavily criticized
Fans set the statue on fire because it didn’t look like the three-time champion it was meant to honor
Much of the criticism focused on the depiction of Wade’s face. The statue drew comparisons to the infamous failed Cristiano Ronaldo statue unveiled in 2017. Armany’s firm, Studio Rotblatt Armany, was not involved in the Ronaldo statue, which was subsequently revised.
Armany worked with artist Oscar Leon on the sculpture and said many distorted comments made by Wade during the ceremony following the statue’s unveiling. He also revealed that the Hall of Famer visited their studio in his native Chicago several times during the construction process.
“He knew exactly what he wanted,” Amrany said. ‘He was very happy with the piece. He was joking as he turned around and said, “Who is this guy?” It was like, ‘How did I get here where someone made a sculpture for me?’
‘Some people thought he didn’t recognize his own image, which is quite the opposite. It was just an expression. Sometimes people take the expression literally, rather than trying to understand the depth of it.”
While fans misinterpreted his initial comments, Wade called the image “gorgeous” during Sunday’s ceremony.
Wade poses next to his statue after Sunday’s unveiling ceremony outside Kaseya Center
Wade called the bust ‘beautiful’ and was meticulously involved in the making process
“Personally I’m biased, I think it’s one of the best images ever made because of what it represents to us and to me,” Wade told the Miami Herald.
Wade’s sculpture is the first to be placed outside Kaseya Center, home of the Heat. Armany also shared the direct line between his most recent product and his most notable statue: the Michael Joran statue known as “The Sprit” outside the United Center in Chicago.
“I looked at this as a continuation of a tradition,” Omri Amrany said. “Dwyane was about 11 years old when his father took him to see the Michael Jordan sculpture in Chicago after we unveiled it.
“Now Dwyane is part of the next generation to receive the tribute,” he added. “I would like to see another 11-year-old child with his father be inspired by this statue and have their own statue unveiled in 20 or 30 years.”
Wade played 13 of his 16 NBA seasons in Miami and made pit stops in Cleveland and Chicago
The basketball Hall of Famer won NBA championships with the Heat in 2006, 2012 and 2013
The Wade statue shows his iconic “this is my house” gesture after a double-overtime win over the Bulls in the 2008-09 regular season. The sculptor shared the challenges of Wade’s celebration compared to other works that feature action shots.
“That makes things a little bit more difficult because at the end of the day you’re still looking at hundreds of hundreds of pounds of bronze that have to sit safely for many years to come,” Amrany said.
In addition to his Wade and Jordan statues, Armany was responsible for several sculptures outside the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. His creative hand swept over images of Shaquille O’Neal, Magic Johnson and the Kings’ 50th anniversary. A second Kobe Bryant statue, depicting the late Lakers legend sitting courtside with his late daughter Gigi, was unveiled in August.
Studio Rotblatt Armany has about 15 artists on its payroll and several projects on deck.