Shaq takes shot at art

Shaquille O'Neal, the 7-foot-1 all-star Cleveland Cavaliers center, has discovered that art is no slam-dunk.

Moonlighting for the first time as a curator, O'Neal is overseeing "Size DOES Matter," an exhibition on the theme of scale in contemporary art coming in February to New York's nonprofit Flag Art Foundation.

"New York is the art capital, so I'm pleased to be starting at the top," O'Neal, 37, said in an e-mail interview. "It was a little harder than I thought it would be. When you think about what each of the artists put into their work, what they are expressing and want to share with the world, you feel bad about having to narrow it down." He said he chose pieces he "can relate to."

The show is expected to include 39 artists and 52 artworks, five of which are special commissions. Flag was founded by art collector Glenn Fuhrman, co-managing partner of MSD Capital LP, which serves as money manager for Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Inc., the world's third-biggest seller of personal computers.

The exhibition includes artworks belonging to Fuhrman, as well as loans from other private collectors and from museums. Ron Mueck's eerie, lifelike sculpture of a hairless giant slumped in a corner, "Untitled (Big Man)," will be on loan from Washington, D.C.'s Hirshhorn Museum. Other artists include irreverent sculptor Maurizio Cattelan, large-format photographer Andreas Gursky and Paul Pfeiffer, known for his videos using footage of sporting events.

"We hope to attract a serious art-world audience, plus others who might not have considered art accessible," said Flag's director, Stephanie Roach.

'Visceral response'

Roach went to Cleveland to see Shaq and the Cavaliers play and met with him after the game. They reviewed potential artworks.

"Shaq went through images, and anything he had a visceral response to, anything he was really into, he put multiple checks" beside on his list, Roach said. O'Neal will be coming to New York to help install the show, Roach said.

Writer James Frey, a collector of art by Damien Hirst and others, and a partner in a contemporary New York gallery, is writing an essay for the exhibition catalog.

"This won't be like another nice show at MoMA or the Met," Frey said, referring to New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Getting Shaq, one of the largest people in the world, to curate a show about scale is really fun. He does a lot of things that are unconventional for a guy of his stature."

Miami Heat for real

Shaq has appeared in films and on TV shows, has recorded rap CDs and has served as a reserve officer on the Miami Beach police force.

Painter Richard Phillips is among those commissioned to make a special piece for the exhibition. He is working on a 10-foot-tall portrait of a figure that he describes as "seen from below," he said. "It's an up shot."

Phillips, who stands 6 feet 5, says his art is influenced by his height. "For me as an artist, this show addresses a part of my work I feel really strongly about," he said. The show tackles "scale and its relationship to physical dominance and power. This exhibition will put this on the table."

Flag regularly invites guest curators to organize shows, such as painter Chuck Close and Sotheby's Chairman Lisa Dennison. O'Neal is the first person not from the art world to be tapped for the job.

And does curating have anything in common with basketball?

"As a curator, I have a responsibility to the artists, who are my teammates," O'Neal said. "We all have to make each other look good -- no different than what I do on the court."