Kobe Bryant’s global impact is impossible to quantify.
When I worked on the documentary, Kobe Bryant’s Muse, I was tasked with calculating his total economic value, to no avail. I ended up at some figure in the tens of billions but, ultimately, I was dumbfounded. There was certainly no fiscal route through which to pinpoint his reach.
Perhaps, though, there is a visual means through which to capture the immensity of his influence on millions of people — far beyond just basketball fans.
After the untimely passing of Kobe and his daughter Gianna, along with John, Keri, and Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah and Payton Chester, Christina Mauser, and Ara Zobayan — two years ago today — a poignant phenomenon commenced: grieving artists and fans from every corner of the planet began memorializing the victims on all types of canvasses: skin, courts, wood, skyscrapers, and — of course — walls.
One lifelong Lakers fan, Mike, launched a hub to track these works and offer useful guides for those who want to visit them. It also serves as a way to celebrate the gifted artists behind the tributes.
“I just wanted to make it easy for people to find what these artists are doing. Make sure they’re recognized and make sure the fans and families see what’s going on out there,” Mike told ClutchPoints. “These artists are doing such incredible work. They deserve all the praise. They deserve all the credit for their creativity and the stories they’re sharing through art.”
24 months later, the phenomenon is ongoing.
“You would think at some point it would slow down, but they’re still going up around the world. At least every week I’m getting a message about things going up.”
KobeMural.com is an invaluable digital archive. The website offers a crowdsourced map of murals. Between Twitter and Instagram, it has nearly 165,000 followers. (The project is not monetized and is a free resource for the fans, families, and artists.)
Once the map launched, Mike realized folks were visiting multiple sites per day, as he did.
“The most important thing for me is when people reach out and say, ‘Hey, I was able to find these artworks or these murals in my hometown or in my country. That’s all I care about. It’s therapeutic for me to give back to the fans and families and artists.”
“What’s really powerful here: These are tangible places for people to go visit,” he added. “These murals around the world are places for people to go with friends or family and loved ones to show their respect. It’s the combination of storytelling and creativity and beauty and outpouring of love. It’s just really love. It’s love and creativity and it’s a place for people to go.”
(Of course, there have been varying types of inspired art that have reflected Bryant’s incalculable legacy. @artsaus, for instance, spent “roughly 224 hours” on a 3-D print of the Mamba logo on a snakeskin canvas. “Kobe Bryant meant everything to me,” he told CP. “A part of me truly felt that he was a superhero — meaning that he was invincible, which is why I don’t believe he is entirely no longer with us. His spirit will always be a motivating force behind my thoughts and actions. The inspiration he has bestowed upon me in regards to how I approach my artwork is to never give up. No matter how many countless hours on end a piece requires…just keep on pushing through every mental barrier and blockade that arises. Mamba Mentality. Art is eternal and similar to literature is a way of encapsulating history in a significant fashion which can be appreciated for generations to come.”)
Bryant was not just a brilliant basketball player. He was a master showman who always understood that he was entertaining the people on a grand public stage. When he stepped onto the hardwood, his talent was for everyone to enjoy. Just watch him summon the final few iotas of strength in his legs to deliver one more indelible moment in the waning minutes of his NBA career. In the same spirit, celebrating Kobe’s legacy via public art feels apt.
“It’s just an outpouring of love for Kobe and Gianna,” Mike said. “There are so many families impacted by this. It’s just really beautiful to see.”
ClutchPoints talked to four renowned street artists with noted works in the United States about the emotional resonance of murals, depicting Kobe, and his influence on their lives.
Sloe Motions (@sloe_motions)
A painter and tattoo artist based in L.A., Sloe Motions has crafted numerous murals across Southern California. “17-20” he estimated.
“The first couple locations I was very picky with cause I wanted it in spots fans would appreciate. My first two were mandatory going to be by the Staples Center” (now Crypto.com Arena).
His first mural lives on a block where the Lakers paraded after winning the 2010 title. “I believe that all fell into place for a certain reason, and it’s what the energy of the world put together.”
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“He taught me a lot about hard work and dedication. I grew up half my childhood in the system, so it was hard for me to find a good male role model after a certain age, and watching Kobe provided that. I reflect a lot of his mentality, from hard work to making things happen under the toughest circumstances. It’s mind-blowing how you can take his basketball mentality from just playing a game to using it in everyday life. Coming from a graffiti background, as well – it’s one of the only competitive art forms, so that comes hand-in-hand with sports.”
The “City of Angels” mural is right up the street. Despite having to “freehand around 80%” of it — “no gridding or tracing” — it became his most famous piece.
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“I think murals connect with people so much emotionally cause art is the language of the soul. We can all relate to it. We are all capable of art in our own forms. We are all artists in our own ways. I think these Kobe murals connect emotionally with everyone especially, too, because of the impact Kobe had on everyone worldwide. He impacted us on and off the court and mostly he impacted us by showing us what a great dad is like.”
Andaluz (@andaluztheartist)
Andaluz is a New York-based street artist and passionate Lakers fan. Hours after hearing the news, he decided to use his craft to commemorate the victims.
He surveyed wall space via Instagram and Google Maps and asked folks to contact him if they had a wall he could paint, free of charge. He received a well of offers, though mostly in his native Long Island. He settled on a space across from Barclays Center — a can’t-miss spot with heavy traffic. Barclays was one of the last NBA venues Kobe and Gianna attended.
“I wanted it to be seen.”
Andaluz chose an image from a 1997 photoshoot by Jon SooHoo that fit the low, horizontal space. He included Gianna and the names of the other victims.
“I like to make sure that when I work on something, it fits the space, it looks like it’s organic, like it’s meant to be there,” he said. “As a mural artist and a huge Kobe fan, I wanted to do something that I remembered as a kid when I think of Kobe. That’s why I did one from when he was Afro Kobe, No. 8. That’s the Kobe that I grew up loving. I wanted to show that passion for basketball, and something that evoked emotion.”
When you walk out of Barclays, the first thing you see is Kobe and Gigi.
Amidst the flurry of requests that followed — mostly for private homes in California — a restaurant, SOCIAL, in Costa Mesa, Orange County, the region where some of the victims lived, asked Andaluz to paint a mural of all those who perished.
“I thought that was amazing,” Andaluz said, about the idea of representing all of the victims.
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“Murals are becoming more and more relevant again. At first, street art, graffiti was frowned on, but now, people are inspired by it,” he explained. “The thing about art, a lot of it is on canvas, you have to go to galleries, you have to get dressed up. A mural captures people because it’s free for the world. It’s a gallery that anyone can go see. Anyone could be having a bad day, could have dealt with something that really put them in a rut, and now they’re passing this colorful mural that captures their attention, and they might relate to it. They might understand a feeling, or they might be inspired. It’s art for anybody in public that’s just walking around. And a lot of people get emotionally attached. A lot of people feel like they’re a part of something.”
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Jonas Never (@never1959)
Jonas Never is a prolific street artist based in Los Angeles. Since transitioning from graffiti in 2006, he began choosing subjects tied to the cities in which he painted. In L.A. that naturally meant “a ton of movie and pop culture icons to choose from…as well as a ton of sports teams.”
As a former college baseball player, he realized that drawing athletes maintained his close bond to sports. He was thrilled “how the public (and the athletes themselves) responded” to his art.
Jonas has painted Kobe four times. One work (done with his friend Droyce) is located by the Los Angeles Convention Center and went up during Kobe’s final season.
“I really wanted an image that captures his passion, but was also immediately recognizable,” he said.
Kobe is also featured on Jonas’ mural in the concourse of Crypto.com Arena, which was commissioned for the arena’s 20th anniversary.
Before Kobe’s memorial service, Jonas completed a mural at Grand Center Market in DTLA. In that case, he wanted to specifically portray the Lakers legend in front of the fans, rather than on a disconnected backdrop.
“I was thrilled when Grand Central Market approved my celebratory image with all the fans and confetti around him,” Jonas recalled. “He was (and still is) such a huge part of Los Angeles and I really wanted to show the passion in the arena (and kind of symbolically how LA celebrates him).”
In South Pasadena, Jonas memorialized Bryant from his iconic final game, working off a shot from the legendary L.A. sports photographer Andrew Bernstein. Jonas said he was “tremendously honored” Bernstein selected him to paint the mural.
“Memorial murals are unique in that they both keep someone’s memory alive and give people a place to visit whoever is painted. I first saw that when Stuart Scott’s family came to visit the mural I painted of him (way back before memorial murals were trendy) and I’ve seen it time and time again. It’s always touching to see fans visit the murals of folks who have passed, whether it be Anthony Bourdain, Betty White, Tupac, or whoever. It’s even more special when I see someone like Tyler Skaggs’ mom and widow at his wall or anyone else who needs a tangible place to see the departed.”
“Kobe was a pillar of Los Angeles for two decades! Nothing lasts that long in this city but Kobe was one of the most successful exceptions to that rule. Now thanks to all the murals of him, he’ll always be a part of the City of Angels.”
Tehrell Porter (@tehrell_porter_designs)
Porter is a Hawaii-based artist who has painted two Kobe murals in Hawaii and 24 in California (“It’s crazy, I didn’t think about that,” he said about the number). He credits becoming better-versed in “the details of the Mamba Mentality” for inspiring him to hone his craft more diligently.
A few years ago, when he decided he wanted to paint a mural, a fabric company, Neman Brothers, responded to his application and hired him to do a three-block Kobe mural downtown. While he’d done a four-block piece in Hawaii, he admitted he “did not know what I was getting myself into.” The block was a graffiti hotspot, and, while he was artistically inspired by the rebel style, there were loads of tags to paint over.
In collaboration with @groundfloormurals and @justcreatedit, he painted a timeline of Kobe’s life — from his childhood through his triumphs on the court, on the Oscar stage, and as a husband and dad. Gianna’s flowing hair is a particularly special detail.
When selecting an image, Tehrell said he looks for photos “that basically just brings out the emotion. When you look at it, you feel something. If it’s gonna be on a grand scale, I figure, bring some type of emotion out of it. I want to bring the feelings out. I want people to stop and look and remember, and embrace the legacy of the Bryant family.”
As with many of the artists whose work you can find through the Kobe Mural project, Tehrell is immensely proud when Vanessa Bryant passes along her compliments
“Every time she responds, I’m thrilled, I’m inspired, and I’m honored,” he said. “I’m in awe, all the time. I’m just inspired that she approves of my participation in being an extension of the Bryant legacy through my artwork. Most of the work is inspired by the Bryant family. It’s beautiful. I’m inspired by the Bryants. Honestly, I’m just happy to see the smiling (from the family). You can build a home in those smiles.”
“Gigi had a quote: ‘Make every moment an experience the heart can hold onto.’ And that’s basically how I’ve been doing it. I close my eyes, I hold onto that inspiration, and then I project what comes out. It’s crazy that she said something like that. Like, how old are you? That is so real. That’s like – that’s the Gigi way. That’s how it gets done. That’s how you explain it. She explained it. That’s it right there.”
He’s working on a new one at Alejandro’s Tacos in Hawaii, based on a photo by “Mr. Bernstein himself.”
“These murals, they take people out of their day-to-day and they shift them into whatever they’re going through – it changes their mood. It just gets them out. I know it got me out. The way that they capture you – they hold you, they don’t allow you to forget. When they capture you, you take that moment to your 24th step away from the mural. Sometimes when you look at something, three steps later, you’re like ‘I don’t remember that.’”
“It just stays with you, rent-free.”
When he was completing his mural downtown, he felt the spirit of the Mamba.
“I think I got a little sign from him. A butterfly landed right on top of my airbrush while I was painting out there. It was kind of like one of those confirmations, like a pat on the ass. Like, ‘tough shot’ or something like that. The butterfly flew around me for a good six to eight seconds and landed on my brush. I was painting D-Wade and Kobe on that section. The manager (of the store nearby) right after gave me a job to paint for him. I had just run out of funds that day.”
“But yeah, what Kobe means? Can’t put that in a box. Can’t wrap all that up for you.”
There are currently 646 artworks across six continents recognized on the map — and countless more images honoring Kobe, Gianna, and those lost on Jan. 26, 2020.
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