After his statue of Dwyane Wade was set on fire by social media users, sculptor Omri Armany broke his silence on criticism of his latest creation.
On Sunday, the eight-foot bust of the Miami Heat legend was unveiled outside the Kaseya Center. However, many fans burned the sculpture for being out of place, claiming it looked nothing like the three-time champion it was meant to honor.
talking to Reception sports On Monday, Armany shared his reaction to the criticism and revealed Wade’s meticulous involvement in the creation of the statue.
“I want to be an artist who creates a direct response and you can’t expect the entire human society to have a positive reaction,” Amrany told the outlet.
‘Some people will come with a silly or angry response. That’s not because of what the art itself is, but because of how it makes them feel. So if this is my part as a psychologist, that’s fine.’
Sculptor Omri Amany speaks out after his Dwyane Wade statue in Miami came under heavy criticism
Fans burned the sculpture for not looking 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 and 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 León on the sculpture and said many distorted Wade’s comments during the statue’s unveiling ceremony. He also revealed that the Hall of Famer visited his 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 when he turned around and said, ‘Who is this guy?’ I thought, ‘How did I get here where someone made a sculpture of me?’
‘Some people took it as if he didn’t recognize his own sculpture, which is quite the opposite. It was just an expression. Sometimes people take the expression literally instead of trying to understand its depth.’
While fans misinterpreted his initial comments, Wade called the statue “beautiful” during Sunday’s ceremony.
Wade poses next to his statue after Sunday’s dedication ceremony in front of the Kaseya Center.
Wade called the bust “beautiful” and was meticulously involved in the creative process.
“Personally, I’m biased, I think it’s one of the best statues ever created because of what it represents to us and to me,” Wade told the Miami Herald.
Wade’s sculpture is the first to be erected outside Kaseya Center, the home of the Heat. Armany also shared the direct line between his most recent product and his most notable statue: the Michael Joran sculpture known as ‘The Sprit’ outside the United Center in Chicago.
“I was considering this as a continuation of a tradition,” Omri Amrany said. ‘Dwyane was about 11 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 be honored,” he added. “I would like to see another 11-year-old boy with his father inspired by this statue, and in 20 or 30 years, his own statue will be unveiled.”
Wade played 13 of his 16 NBA seasons in Miami, making stops in Cleveland and Chicago.
The basketball Hall of Famer won NBA championships with the Heat in 2006, 2012 and 2013.
The statue of Wade depicts his iconic “this is my house” gesture after a double-overtime victory over the Bulls in the 2008-2009 regular season. The sculptor shared the challenges that Wade’s celebration presented, compared to other works that portrayed action shots.
“That’s what makes things a little more difficult because, at the end of the day, you’re still looking at hundreds of hundreds of pounds of bronze that have to stand safely for many years,” Amrany said.
In addition to his statues of Wade and Jordan, Armany was responsible for several sculptures outside the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. His creative hand touched statues of Shaquille O’Neal, Magic Johnson and the Kings’ 50th anniversary. A second Kobe Bryant statue was unveiled in August, depicting the late Lakers legend sitting courtside with his late daughter Gigi.
Studio Rotblatt Armany has about 15 artists on the payroll and several projects underway.