Shaquille O’Neal is a true Renaissance man.
The 15-time NBA All-Star has long led a varied life off the hardwood as an actor, rapper, US deputy marshal, comedian — and now he’s ready to take on the art world by curating an exhibition he expects to be a slam dunk.
The 7-foot-1 O’Neal’s first show is set to tip off on Friday at the FLAG Art Foundation on West 25th Street in Chelsea, and it is fittingly titled “Size DOES Matter.”
It runs through May 27 and features 66 works selected by Shaq. They range from Robert Therrien’s colossal sculpture of a table and six chairs that dwarf even the Cleveland Cavalier center to a portrait of O’Neal by Willard Wigan that’s so tiny it can sit in the eye of a needle.
“Funny how it took an exhibit about size to get a 7-foot, 1-inch man like me on board,” O’Neal told The Post. “Size matters when it comes to me playing basketball or participating in law enforcement. Other than that, size can be an illusion.”
Stephanie Roach, director of FLAG, said the foundation specializes in “outside the box” exhibitions, so a show illustrating how scale affects perception seemed like a perfect fit.
O’Neal was “undoubtedly No. 1 on our wish list,” she said.
“Aside from Shaq’s unbelievable stature, he also has a larger-than-life persona off the court and a desire to take risks.”
Roach and FLAG founder Glenn Fuhrman flew to Cleveland in October and showed O’Neal hundreds of images to choose from over dinner after a preseason Cavalier game.
“I got really excited about the concept and the opportunity to work with such amazing art,” Shaq said.
He was especially drawn to Ron Mueck’s “Untitled (Big Man),” a nearly 7-foot-tall sculpture of a naked, bald man curled up awkwardly, elbows resting on his knees. The renowned piece is being lent to FLAG by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC.
Besides Wigan’s microscopic masterpiece, several other pieces commissioned for the show also feature O’Neal as their subject. A collage by Mark Wagner, for example, is made up of dollar bills cut and glued together to create four portraits of the basketball great.
O’Neal has long been an art admirer.
“I have art of all kinds — some purchased, some gifts: African, modern, abstract, American. Also because of my kids, I have some of their art hanging,” said O’Neal, who is expected to make at least one appearance at a private FLAG event.