Dwyane Wade Defends Heat Statue, It's Art!

Dwyane Wade is acknowledging his new statue in Miami doesn't look a whole lot like him ... but if ya thought he'd be pissed about it -- think again!!

The Heat legend on Monday addressed all the backlash his Kesaya Center monument got following its big reveal on Sunday ... and while he admitted it does have a bit of a Laurence Fishburne look to it -- he's super happy about it nonetheless.

Wade explained he doesn't think it has to be a 100 percent accurate rendering of him in order to be perfect ... telling media members just before Miami's tilt vs. Detroit that it was always supposed to be merely an "artistic" depiction of his iconic "This is my house!" celebration.

"Sitting down with the Miami Heat and myself, what we wanted to do was capture a moment that represented the organization, represented myself and represented the city," he said. "We felt like we captured that moment in an artistic form, in an artistic way."

"If I wanted it to look like me," he continued, "I would just stand outside the arena and y'all would take photos. It don't need to look like me. It's an artistic version of a moment that happened that we're trying to cement."

Wade went on to say he felt bad for sculptor Omri Amrany -- who helped make the piece -- saying he and the work's other creators did "an amazing job" ... and they don't deserve any of the hate they've been getting the past 24 hours.

"I don't know a lot of people with a statue, do you?" Wade said. "Anybody in here? Y'all know anything about the process of a statue? No one out there do neither."

"It's an unbelievable process to be a part of -- and it's a complicated process."