Man One x Sneakertopia: Video (Transcription)
Man One Artist: I love painting big murals. They're just like, uh, freedom and being able to extend my arm all the way out, and move my body, and all that. So, it's, uh, yeah, it's kinda like a dance you're doing to the wall.
Man One Artist: I like to play a lot of hip hop and stuff like that, but also music that's very instrumental, because then I can just feel the music, feel the vibes, and just let it flow, you know?
Man One Artist: When I'm not listening to music, my painting feels, uh, lonely (laughs).
Man One Artist: We're at HHLA, where Sneakertopia is taking place here. Sneakertopia is being billed as, like, the largest popup museum for sneaker culture. This venue's, like, 15,000 square foot venue. It's gonna be showcasing sneakerhead collectors, murals, installations, all kinds of projects that are related to sneakers, not just on the one dimension of collecting sneakers, you know, as a fashion thing, but its connection to music, art, and culture.
Man One Artist: I'm personally creating art that has to do with the music aspect. I think my relationship with sneaker culture is more from, I think, um, a hip hop point of view than a graffiti point of view. You know, growing up, obviously, Run-DMC was one of the first, you know, groups that I loved, and introduced me to hip hop, and, so, I w- started wearing Adidas and shell toes back then.
Man One Artist: I wouldn't consider myself, like, a real hardcore sneakerhead, but I do enjoy, like, the colorful, uh, sneakers, and that's one thing I think that I think sneaker culture has embraced, and what I love about it is that you can do whatever you want with sneakers now. Ever- every color, every fabric, every style. It's almost like kicks now are an extension of not only your fashion sense, but, like, who you are. Like, it's part of your identity.
Man One Artist: I've worked with Puma, with Nike, with Adidas, but it's very interesting to me having grown up, you know, remembering, as a kid, there wasn't, like, a connection really with, like, Nike. Like, I didn't remember, like, a personal relationship with any of these brands, you know, growing up. But then, you know, now that I'm an adult and see the connection and how important it is, you know, whether it's through graffiti culture, street art culture, uh, hip hop, whatever, these brands really want to make a connection with what's going on.
Man One Artist: So, Justin Fredericks reached out to me. He's the curator of this exhibition, and he said, "Hey, you know, we're doing this Sneakertopia thing, and we're looking for some a- artists that could help us, you know, with the vision of it, and who are doing work that's related, and we love what you're doing. Are you interested?" You know?
Man One Artist: It felt like they were doing it right. A lot of times, you see these popups that happen where they're, they're just kinda fly by night, right? It's just like, someone just puts a lot of money and ... just to make something look good for a night or two, but there's no soul in it, there's no, like, legitimacy around, like, the artist involved, or whatever.
Man One Artist: And this one is. This is like a real exhibit. It's gonna be like a, kind of a c- playground slash art gallery. It's a project where I was able to, like, experiment a little bit and just do something that's maybe a little more fun, less serious, but still very true to what I'm doing, you know?
