Duarte High School Mural Blends Faces Of Kobe And Gianna Bryant
DUARTE (CBSLA) — A new mural of Kobe and Gianna Bryant was unveiled Wednesday at Duarte High School.
The mural, based on a design by graphic artist Lee Olsen, blends the faces of the NBA icon and his rising basketball star daughter. It was painted by the school's ASB president, Noelle Nguyen, with the help of two friends in just seven hours.
Noelle said painting the mural helped her deal with the loss. But the sight of it seems to have also been a help to her fellow students.
"People were like messaging me personally and telling me like, 'oh wow, you did so good.' And like, 'I'm taking this really bad right now, this whole thing with Kobe,' 'thank you so much for doing it," she said. "That really like hit me in the heart."
After Bryant, his daughter and seven others died in a helicopter crash Sunday in Calabasas, Olsen uploaded a high-resolution version of the image to Twitter to make it available for personal use.
Given the interest in this image, I've decided to make the high res version available to all. I ask you keep for personal use & do not on-sell for profit & expect most would agree doing otherwise would be in poor taste. I hope this brings you some comfort. https://t.co/xF6RZdWAhb
— LEE OLSΞN ???? (@shiftrefresh) January 28, 2020
Olsen, an Australia-based designer whose art intersects sports and culture, first posted the image to Instagram in November of last year, captioning it, "Next Gen." Bryant was among the nearly 20,000 likes on the image.