The artist of the now-infamous Dwyane Wade sculpture has spoken out following a number of public comments doubting its likeness to the retired Miami Heat basketball star.
The statue, unveiled outside of the Kaseya Center in Florida just a few days ago, received massive criticism about the look of its face. According to one of the creators, it was intended to replicate one of Wade’s most memorable game celebrations in 2009, when he beat his hometown team, the Chicago Bulls, and screamed to the crowd, “This is my house!”
However, artist Oscar Leon said in an NBC News interview that the glossy sealant used can cause “a misunderstanding to the eye,” and urged viewers to see statue in person.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We have to seal everything to keep the integrity of the sculpture. However, that does create a funny little side effect of being glossy in areas that we are not used to seeing when we look at somebody in the flesh,” said Leon.
Many took to social media to say that Wade looked much older than he actually was in the sculpture’s rendition of the moment. A writer for The Atlantic said that Wade looked like “a man in his mid-50s.”
“He seems to suffer from a rare elephantiasis, hyperlocal to the jaw. The eyes are all wrong. If Wade ever had to flee the country, and for some reason the detectives who pursued him overseas had only a cast of this statue to identify him, he would likely remain at large forever,” wrote Ross Andersen, who deemed it the worst statue in sports history.
