Are sneakers art? Kaws, Takashi Murakami, Damien Hirst think so – they created sneaker art for exhibition that shows how mainstream sneaker culture is
- Sneaker culture has come a long way from its unglamorous roots, now commodified in auctions, e-commerce and exhibitions like one opening this week in Hong Kong
- The shoes in the Tongue & Chic show are not for sale, but a later online auction will focus on street wear and street art
The travelling exhibition, which was first shown in New York, has been put together by Elizabeth Semmelhack, senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, who says the show displays “thought-provoking and highly covetable works that straddle the divide between fashion and art”.
The blurring of the lines poses the obvious question of whether sneakers can be considered art.
“I think perhaps the more compelling question isn’t, are sneakers art but rather, why are so many artists engaging with sneakers?” Semmelhack says. “I am very interested in how Daniel Arsham, for example, has used the release of his Adidas collaborations to explore his interest in the passage of time and how Tom Sachs has translated his commitment to the artist’s hand into his collaborations with Nike,” she says.
