Kobe Bryant, you love him or you hate him, or maybe you sort of like him and hate him at the same time (like me). There are those games where he doesn't shoot in the first half to prove a point that he can pass, or the games where he’ll score and get accused of not passing. There are the Michael Jordan comparisons and instances in games where it almost seems like he's thinking, "What would MJ do?" He has a flair for the dramatic, and sometimes it almost appears forced. But despite all of these things, he is a lethal scorer and the League's best player.
The snakes on the left of the painting represent the Kobe Bryant everyone appreciates. The lethal scorer, the competitor and the winner. The nickname he gave himself, Black Mamba (20-40 grown men could die from the venom contained in a single bite from the fastest moving snake in the world) is appropriate and works in his favor.
On the other side, the venomous black mambas turn on Kobe, threatening to bite. These snakes represent the negativity towards Kobe, much of which is brought on by his own behavior. He relates himself to a black mamba and it turns on him.
In the middle there is a black and red snake, representing the Michael Jordan comparisons that have followed him his whole career. He's been snake bitten with the curse of being the next MJ, and even if he succeeds in that, people will look upon him negatively.
To complement the main painting, I did two smaller pieces with two Kobes showing the same idea. The Kobe on the left is aided by the mamba persona that drives him to the basket with deadly force. On the right, his mambas pull him down, while a predator bird (the secretary bird)grabs a snake in its mouth.
These pieces were a lot of fun to paint. In the larger piece I painted the branches to look similar to some trees in New York that almost have a camouflage, snake-like appearance.
http://www.joelkimme...785882513135955
Pretty cool. There's other portraits at this guy's website.
