ROCK PAPER SNEAKERS EXHIBITION OOZES COOL

By Sivu Nobongoza

Rock Paper Sneakers, an exhibition by Shin Tanaka, a Japanese origami genius, which took place last week Friday (17 August), was an explosion of creative sovereignty which set the streets of Cape Town ablaze with colour and good chi.

The well-attended exhibition left a distinct scent of creative cool lingering in Shelf Life, the trendy 119 Loop Street Store that seems to be at the vanguard of everything cutting-edge in Cape Town, which transcended out into the CBD’s backstreets, all the way up Long, into Kloof and over the mystical Table Mountain.

The city’s creative snobs and cultural thinkers were clearly thirsting for an awe-inspiring event of this nature as they came out locked ‘n loaded in huge numbers to check out the masterful work on display.

Most came to support their beloved exhibitors, some were eager to document innovative genius while others in sheer metropolitan fashion came for the banging party and the wallet-comforting beer.

I can’t say if it was the sensational surprise of a cool Cape winter night or the ingenious work being exhibited or both, but Nike Air Force 1’s and the Masters that ordained the exhibition received kudos fit for giants. The general consensus amongst the cosmopolitan attendees was that the exhibition kicked creative ass.

The AF1’s, which as per a recent Business Week report contributed billions of dollars to Nike’s bottom line in the past financial year, could only sit and smile at the flashing cameras and glistening eyes that snapped the paper snipped sneaks which where hung conceptually by their laces on dually well-crafted telephone wires - the Symbol of Urban Freedom.

Interestingly enough, although the perception of art is sometimes reviewed as “out-the-box or out there”, there was certainly a little something for everyone at this exhibition.

With the support of the Cape-based urban dynamite store and the associate partner of the event, Shelf Life, there was everything from hoodies, sneakers (in particular Air Force Ones), fab jeans and cool toys (for both adults and kids). As I gaped at the attention to detail that each artist manifested on the spread of tweaked AF1’s, I couldn’t help but notice the familiarity in the crafty names of some of the artists compared to the iconic sneaker.

The Master Craftsmen for the exhibition included highly esteemed artists such as Conduit, Theory One, Sibot, Enos, Rasty, Disk, Robin Sprong, Jade, Tocil, Ghotti Comics, Ricky Lawrence, Count Sabel, Dr. Zulu, Pest & many more.

The Air Force Ones that lent their presence to the event included the Ones, Uptowns, Bubblegums, Airs, Thick Soles, to name but a few.

It is seems that the Air Force Ones, the best selling Nike sneaker of all time, have become fully entrenched as the de facto worldwide symbol of urban youth expression, and has been similarly lapped by the forwarding-thinking trendy set in Mzansi.

With the Nike Air Force 25 set to be released later this year, in celebration of the sneaker line’s 25 years of domination, you can be guaranteed that Nike’s mainstay sub-brand will remain a must-have in the hearts (and feet) of the style junkies and fundis alike.

We can only hope that the creative baton will continue to grace the streets of Cape Town with first-class exhibitions for many years to come. Mofaya boys and girls! That was the real.

Ed’s note: If there’s anything cool happening in your town, please send us the 411 on it to info@bravebyrd.co.za