A Palestinian demonstrator displays a shoe on a banner showing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, left, and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, during a protest against Israel's military operation in Gaza, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Israeli forces pounded Gaza Strip houses, mosques and tunnels on Monday from the air, land and sea, killing at least seven children and six other civilians, as they consolidated a bruising land offensive against Palestinian militants. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
Quite nice! We've gotten used to mainly seeing contemporary inspirations upon the new shoe artists, so it's refreshing to see such a quaintly archaizing form, almost like an Early Netherlandish diptych. Ah, but our tour is just starting. Next up, Tehran, where we find this kinda Lichtenstein-meets-Rauschenberg creation:
January 5, 2009. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN)
And next, we're on to Barcelona, where a sizable shoe art happening...um... happened yesterday. I really love the Arte Povera-like minimalism in the Spanish shoe artwork:
REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino(SPAIN)
I swear, if you just covered that whole thing in white plaster, people would think it was a real Paolini.
Here's where the whole thing gets freaky. Remember about how Bill "Papa Bear" Richardson was going to be secretary of commerce and everything until he wasn't? And they said it was because of some grand jury thingee or something? Well, the real reason is that he was photographed at a violent shoe art demonstration in Australia (Australia!) on Sunday. I hope it was worth it, Bill:
(AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Australia! The Middle Eastern Shoe Art Renaissance has become the Global Shoe Art Renaissance, and isn't it thrilling! And the best thing about it is that the movement is so adaptable. In some far-off lands, Bosnia for instance, they've charmingly tailored shoe art to meet their own needs, as in this case where local rulers were substituted for George Bush in a rousing public loafer-toss:
(AFP/Elvis Barukcic)
And as happens when anything anywhere gets trendy, eventually the Brits will find out about it:
A demonstrator throws a shoe near the Downing Street residence of Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, during a protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza at Trafalgar Square in London January 3, 2009. (Luke MacGregor/Reuters)
And naturally, if it's worth doing in London, it's worth overdoing:
(Reuters)
God, so totally fun! Where will shoe art erupt next?
10 comments:
That was indeed a MEGAPOST. Thank you so much, and thank you also for that bit of Anglophobia. "And as happens when anything anywhere gets trendy, eventually the Brits will find out about it" is my favorite new phrase.
A street full of shoes! So beautiful! We haven't had this kind of focus on footwear since Imelda Marcos!
Oh, PSP. I have wondered what to do with the framed art work sent to me by my daughter after the '04 elections.
"Doh! 4 more years of Dubya. Nov. 4, 2004. How can 59,054,087 people be so dumb? U.S Election Disaster." It's a copy of the London Daily Mirror. Now I know! I'll glue a shoe to his forehead and enjoy it even more.
This is now my favorite art catalog AND my favorite chronicle of current events & emerging social movements.
Can the fabulous MESAR™ movement have its own tag? I'll feel ever so much better if I know I'm just one click away from browsing all the literature on the Middle Eastern Shoe Art Renaissance™. Illustrated!
I forsee a MESAR coffee table book.
sleepyinsaudi
Good idea about the tag, anonymous. Done.
If only you knew how much I loved shoes.
Were all the shoes on the freeway in Miami last week a part of this great outpouring of emotion? I've been wondering.
It's happened here in Miami, too! Hundreds of shoes dumped on the Palmetto Expressway. No one knows why or who did it, but speculation abounds!
Think of the economic benefit of everyone who now has to buy a new pair of shoes. Chimpy may well end this recession/depression single-handedly by bringing about a surge in retail sales!
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