Lakers: Mind-Bending Kobe Artwork
A touching tribute to the Black Mamba
As we've previously discussed, five-time Lakers champion and 18-time All-Star Kobe Bryant has been commemorated frequently, in artwork that spans the entire globe (he is the subject of over 600 murals in more than 45 countries around the world).
Artist Denny Ow has constructed an elaborate, Russian Doll-esque multi-tiered tribute to Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, who tragically passed away in a helicopter accident on January 26th, 2020. Check out Ow's tribute below:
Among the moments recreated via illustration:
- Vanessa Bryant's speech during Kobe's enshrinement into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts circa 2021, with a ghostly Kobe looking on.
- The 2008 MVP and his daughter Gianna Bryant posing back-to-back in a photography studio against a white cyc.
- Kobe accepting his 2018 Academy Award for the animated short film he wrote in tribute to the game, "Dear Basketball."
- The Black Mamba having just released a three-point attempt.
- Bryant celebrating the Lakers' 2010 NBA championship victory in a hotly-contested Game 7 against L.A.'s fiercest rival, the Boston Celtics.
- Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant flanking each other, presumably during a break in the action of one of their many title runs together.
- Prince sitting courtside enjoying Bryant's hyper-athletic Shaqobe era self, mid-dunk, flanked by other deceased music luminaries like Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.
- A 17-year-old Bryant on draft night in 1996, holding up his No. 8 Lakers jersey. Selected with the 13th pick straight out of Lower Merion High School in Philadelphia, Bryant had his draft rights flipped to L.A. in a draft-night deal with the Charlotte Hornets. In exchange, the Lakers sent back starting center Vlade Divac.
It's a fitting tribute to a longtime Laker legend.
