Have you ever wondered what drives sneakerhead culture? Are you intrigued by the universal allure of an epic pair of trainers and what about them compels artists to coin revolutionary designs? Well, the Bata Shoe Museum has a brand new exhibition dedicated to answering those questions.
Art/Wear: Sneakers x Artists guides visitors through a history of sneakers, from their emergence into the mainstream, to why designers often view them as a blank canvas. The exhibit also explores the blurred lines between art and fashion and how western definitions of both are in constant flux.
Navigate the links between graffiti, sneaker culture and artist collabs, learn about the rise of personal customization as a form of expression, and view the collaborative works of renowned artists and designers including, Damien Hirst, Virgil Abloh, Murakami, KAWS, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, among many more revered names.
Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and senior curator the Bata Shoe Museum, who has worked with sneakers for over a decade, told Now Toronto she was interested in building an exhibit that thought critically about artistic collaborations specifically.
“So many artists who you see in museums are now working with sneakers,” she said, which brings into question “the divide between art and commerce, art and fashion, art and craft,” Semmelhack continued.
The exhibit features the first-ever collaborative sneaker, by Peter Max and Randy Shoes sneakers from 1960, which Semmelhack said marked the beginning of commercialized footwear.
Over half a century later, these kinds of collaborations are a well established vessel for wearable ingenuity. In this sense, sneakers are where art and commercial appeal converge, granting mainstream access to high-flown designs, while fabricating a level of scarcity that elevates status.
Most people don’t own a Keith Haring painting, or an original Damien Hirst, but shoe collaborations often possess the ability to bridge the gap between seeing and owning, creating a path for sneakers lovers to build collections.
In conjunction with the exhibit’s 18-month residency, the museum will host customization workshops as well as a program of expert-led lectures.
In fact, Semmelhack will speak in more detail about the intersection of culture, clothes, society and the intriguing circumstance that led to the emergence of drawing on sneakers on Nov. 5 at the museum’s annual Founder’s Lecture, with special guest and one of the world’s leading experts on diversity in design Dr. D’Wayne Edwards, who will explore the merging of culture, dress, and society through the lens of sneakers. Edwards, who is a former Design Director for Nike and recognized as one of Business of Fashion’s 500 Most Influential People, created the Air Jordan 21 and 22 and founded PENSOLE in 2010, the first U.S. academy dedicated to footwear design in Detroit.
Art/Wear is on until March 2026 at the Bata Shoe Museum.
Learn more about Art/Wear here.
