The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly of Sneaker Culture

We all know what art exhibitions are. A place where art meets the audience, where artists get to show their creations to the crowd, exposing themselves to the critics of others. However, one cannot help but wonder, what does “art” in art exhibition stand for? Is it only limited to the basic forms of art that we have always known? Paintings? Sculptures? Photography?

Enter here the Phillips’ Tongue + Chic Exhibition. An unusual exposition that showcases several sneakers designed by leading artists, in collaboration with famous clothing brands. The majority of shoes in the exhibit are models that can be recognized at a quick glance. Chuck Taylor’s, Air Force I, and Jordan’s. However, these sneakers have something that differentiates them from a regular shoe. They are limited edition and designed by famous artists, such as, street artist KAWS,  Kehinde Wiley, the African-American artist who painted Obama’s official portrait, among others. And we can’t forget to mention that some of them are, painfully expensive.

Damien Hirst x Vans

This exhibition breaks the typical idea that most people have about art and its boundaries. The well recognized auction house Phillips presents “a one-of-a-kind sneaker exhibition featuring artists including Damien Hirst, Daniel Arsham and Takashi Murakami, among others, celebrating utilitarian objects which have become highly coveted works that straddle the divide between fashion and art”. Exhibits like this do a great job at showing the transition that the art world has been experiencing in the past decades. How we, as human beings, adapt to the different trends that the world has to offer, because that’s what is natural to us. And now that the fashion industry has had a big break in this century, it is normal to see other industries trying to collaborate with it, in order to have a positive result too.

Nonetheless, we cannot ignore the thin line that there is between admiring the collaboration between a famous artist with a well-known brand, and hoarding sneakers as a way of negative self-satisfaction. But, what do I mean when I say negative self-satisfaction? For years now, we have all known or heard of the term “hypebeast”. According to Urban Dictionary, it is “a kid that collect clothing, shoes, and accessories for the sole purpose of impressing others. Although the individual may not have a dime to their name they like to front like they are making far more than everybody else. Equipped with mommy’s credit card the Hype Beast will try his hardest to make sure he has every pair of Nike’s he saw Jay-Z wearing on 106 & Park." And in my opinion, this is not too far from the truth. With the good, comes the bad and the ugly. And in this case, that would be the hypebeasts. Even though these sneakers are art pieces in a way, they are also fashion pieces, and fashion is meant to be worn, not to be locked in a box forever.

To me, sneaker culture is another example that, to have money does not always mean to have sense too. I understand the passion that sneaker connoisseurs have towards some shoes, because of the history behind them, the artist, and even the sentimental value. However, it is also discouraging to see how the art and fashion industry are being disrupted by people that use these art pieces as a way of feeding their egos. Which then leads the world to think that art and fashion are only meant to be for snobby, empty people that like to spend large amounts of money to impress others.