Yo…
For my lunch hour I decide to get something…Fresh. As in Fresh Kicks.
Jumped onto the subway to visit the Bata Shoe Museum in downtown Toronto.
This footwear museum displays a strange and unique cultural collection: from OG Air Jordans to OG moon boots to OG pumps that ladies typically wear at work. (Or used to I guess…footwear is constantly evolving.)
Bata Shoe Museum is currently hosting 3 exhibitions; I recommend them all but I’ma just focus on one for these My Pal Sammy proceedings.
Exhibit A: Investigating Crime And Footwear covers footwear forensics and the social constructions of criminality. If you dig True Crime this is your jam: “the game’s afoot!”
Dressed To Impress: Footwear and Consumerism In The 1980s documents RUN DMC to NBA and the Converse Weapon. It’s all about the capitalism of consumerism to create compelling identities. If you dig the ‘80s or wearing Jordans this is your jam.
(There’s a marvelous screening room as part of this exhibition. You can go and watch a loop of Miami Vice episodes. Really, if you have kids and want to show em how cool we were in the ‘80s fire up a Miami Vice episode or two.)
Your one admission price gets you into those two experiences as well as their latest exhibition. Art/Wear: Sneakers x Artists opened on October 3rd. Still got that new exhibition smell.
We tend to think of art as like…a canvas. Leonardo da Vinci stroking his long beard as he paints the Mona Lisa. Art, yo.
Sometimes, we visit a gallery or a museum and after seeing what’s hung on the walls…we protest: “That’s not art!”
In 2016 I was in New York City and came across a construction mishap. The tar stained the sidewalk, it was what it was.
However, this being NYC it clearly created an opportunity for sweet sarcasm. That’s classic Big Apple commentary.
Art/Wear: Sneakers x Artists simply wonders: “What Is Art?”
The opening introduction reveals:
“This question has sparked debate for centuries, and today, the boundaries of what defines art are being pushed further than ever. One significant shift is the growing trend of artists engaging in commercial collaborations, particularly with sneaker brands. These collaborations blur the lines between art, fashion, and commerce, offering consumers the opportunity to buy and wear creations by some of the most revered figures in the art world.”
Freshtastic.
So…when is a shoe not a shoe? When it’s art:
The exhibition features this classic Keith Haring quote:
“The use of commercial projects has enabled me to reach millions of people whom I would not have reached by remaining an unknown artist. I assumed, after all, that the point of making art was to communicate and contribute to culture.”
I’ve always appreciated how sneakers effortlessly translate the culture.
The flawed premise that you can’t wear sneakers at a wedding or a funeral…at work was always asinine. Saying something that stupid out loud is like yelling at immigrants: “speak English!”
(Sadly, this was a common custom…many people in the ‘80s and even ‘90s where shunned, belittled, ridiculed and more…for wearing sneakers in the "wrong" social settings. I don’t understand why anyone would advocate for a homogeneous culture. Support the individual.
Freedom is way more valuable than acceptance. And way more fun.
Post-COVID, consistently working from home…choices like that are gonna hasten more individuality and more comfort. It always looked so dumb when everybody was in a tie. Why would you willingly surrender to The Borg?! We’re finally and wonderfully moving further away from that nonsense. Be free. Figure out what you want to say and find the sneakers that artfully say that.)
In Art/Wear you can see the street styles colliding with social values all influenced by art:
See sneakers as a blank canvas. What Mona Lisa would you paint on kicks?
(Kids and skaters back in the day wore classic white Vans. When they got bored at school…which happened often…they used a black marker to colour in squares creating a checkboard pattern. Eventually, this style caught on. So Vans saved them the trouble and just issued the same shoes now adorned with that pattern. It’s all happening.)
A blank page is inspiring because it can become anything. You can write sci-fi tales or scary horror moments; people can fall in and out love.
No different than a blank page is a blank canvas like fresh sneakers.
This weekend you can also find the Bata Shoe Museum at Art Toronto 2024. This is one of the largest international art fairs in Canada.
Go and soak in all the wonderful art.
Or complain that’s not art.
Or be inspired and make art.
From October 25 - 27 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre; Bata will at Booth A07 so you can learn more about Art/Wear: Sneakers x Artists. Solid two-fer right there.
Which bring us to the attached My Summer Lair conversation with Stephen Winn at StockX.
At StockX Stephen Winn is the Chief Product Officer: “I run Technology: Product, Engineering, Design, Information Security, and IT.” That’s some excellent nerding.
StockX serves as an online marketplace, a sneaker resale platform facilitating auctions between sellers and buyers. For sure it sounds like eBay.
However, a major difference between the two platforms is knowledge: many of the buyers and sellers on StockX are passionate sneakerheads.
There’s a massive difference between going to a flea market and buying a cool random painting vs going to a gallery to specifically purchase a painting by a specific artist. Which may or may not be…art. #NotArt
Stephen and I talked at Collision Conference in downtown Toronto; a technology conference kinda like SXSW just without the tasty tacos.
(This was the last one in Toronto. The Conference has now moved to Vancouver and rebranded as Web Summit Vancouver.)
Based in Detroit, Stephen has been growing the StockX technology team and the site; especially the backend.
(One of the StockX investors is Dan Gilbert. He owns the NBA team the Cavs and he is the co-founder and majority owner of Rocket Mortgage. Born in Detroit, Dan Gilbert is an unofficial mayor of Detroit due to his investment and development in the city’s development.
When I was recently in Detroit; talking to a local citizen downtown he pointed out building after building after building say with each finger point: “Dan owns that building. And that building. And that building.”)
StockX started with sneakers―many, many Jordans―but has expanded into numerous categories: collectibles, watches, apparel, trading cards, electronics, Stephen has more to say about that.
I was so curious about StockX because I want to know how we got here. That’s a question I ask often.
How did we go from Air Jordans in the ‘80s to a global streetwear market worth billions?
And it is global, Stephen confirmed that. His dynamic position at StockX gives him this incredible window to see how streetwear ebbs and flows worldwide; what’s hot and what’s not.
Here in North America we grew up enmeshed with Michael Jordan and NBA games.
In 2022 when I was puttering around Cairo, Super Bowl LVI was on…at 8 a.m.! You can’t participate in the traditional Super Bowl party with spicy chili and spicy wings and adult beverages at 8 a.m. (I guess technically you could. But that’s a heavy breakfast with a lot of acid burps to kick off the day.)
After decades of Nike commercials and billboards, NBA games on in the evening…we’ve established these deep cultural roots.
If you grew up in England in the ‘80s and ‘90s…sure you know who Jordan is. But you don’t know him the way we know him. You don’t have the same history and those strong connections and associations like we do.
(Conversely, growing up in England creates deeper cultural roots for soccer that we simply lack here in North America. To us Man City sounds like a strip club for women.)
Stephen wasn’t a sneakerhead when he started at StockX and yet you hear a lot of passion and enthusiasm. It’s a lot of work and yet he’s having a lot of fun. He also reveals the fresh kicks he’s rocking. (And I’m kicking myself for not taking a photo of his dope sneakers.)
Enjoy this My Summer Lair conversation.
Then put on pants and check out Art/Wear: Sneakers x Artists at the Bata Shoe Museum in downtown Toronto:
48 legendary artist-driven sneaker designs…like from Cey Adams to KAWS to Peter Max to Jean-Michel Basquiat to Mache and much more.
Go through it slowly. Linger. See what creativity sparks for you.
Kicking It Old School…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
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