I stumbled across this fun creation on the perilously addictive Etsy – the Fairy Shoe Shrine. Now, I’m not big on fairies, but I totally dig the vintage shoe covered in old costume jewelry. Fun!
Hmm…I feel inspired to break out the hot glue gun and get crafty…
A while back at Ladyfest’s “Not Your Grandma’s Craft Sale” here in Ottawa, I spotted some super cool pumps with hand-painted creatures on them. These are the work and play of Montreal artist Tyson Bodnarchuk.
There are three things I love about Tyson’s shoe creations. One, they’re whimsical and fun, on a level that is such a departure from even the most funky store-bought shoes. Two, he uses a fantastic colour palette. And three, he’s painting on vintage shoes, which in addition to being funky looking, also tend to have a more forgiving heel. I also think that they must be reclaimed, which makes them all the better.
Tyson and his other half are the creative minds behind Headquarters Galerie & Boutique in Montreal. The site describes his style as:
…influenced by 50`s-60`s sci-fi films and comics, rock and roll and Jim Henson. Using acrylic on many different surfaces, Tyson creates art that begs to be touched, often with a humorous yet macabre edge. These robots, monsters and imaginary characters pop off the background with bright colours and exaggerated features. Wrap this up in a glossy toy-like finish, and you have the embodiment of the artists work.
On his Etsy profile, Tyson says that he enjoys painting monsters, robots, villains and evil creatures inspired by everyday people on the street, bus or subway. After looking at the creatures he paints, I start to see the colourful characters on the bus morph into snakes with stunned eyes or loud screaming little blue monsters.
I didn’t manage to bring home a pair of his shoes when I first saw them, but you can bet I’ll be looking for them in the future. You can peruse his Etsy shop, if you dare (Etsy is SO ADDICTIVE).
See more pictures of his work after the jump. Continue reading »
New York-based photographer Bela Borsodi sure has some special feelings when it comes to shoes.
My friend Val sent me a link to this photo set and my second thought (the first being “oh my”) was “gee, I hope people don’t think I’m sexually attracted to footwear.”
This photo is my favourite from the set titled V Magazine #48: “Foot Fetish”. I find it visually interesting, and of course, I love the shoe too (Paris chic meets Road to Avonlea…no? anyone?).
Some of the other photos in the set just look like someone wanted an excuse to glue some porn tits to a hot shoe. Um, hi fancy artist, I can do that with a glue stick, a Penthouse, and some hot printouts from the Christian Louboutin website.
But Bela Borsodi is more than just lusty encounters with stilettos. In an interview with PingMag, which highlights a broad array of his fascinating work, he gives insight into his thinking behind the Foot Fetish series:
“The shoes in these images are designed to shape the female body and her posture, not only her foot. They also sexualise the woman who chooses to wear such shoes and I got interested to investigate and to maximise this visually, to explore how the already sexualised female body of a woman would fit with those shoes in a very exaggerated manner: How their shapes would possibly meet and what new proportions they would create on a different scale.
I also wanted to reflect on the already established connection and purpose of such shoes and how they are designed towards the female body. That is why I don’t show the heads of those bodies and they are all nude.”
In this context, I think the series is insightful feminist commentary (funny how a bit of context can transform some T&A into something more academic). I would agree that high heels are sexy and sexualizing (except for the hideously frumpy, chunky-heeled Aunt Hettie pair in the series…not sexy), and it would seem that by showing the porn-inspired, nude, headless bodies of these women, the artist is taking a “sex object” interpretation of this sexualization. While I would agree that this forms one part of the story, I think it doesn’t really capture other dimensions like sexual power. The topic of women and sex is complex. Just like on Sex and the City! No, I’m kidding.
I’m going to go with “these are not real” to preserve my psychological health:
Wearing skin as shoes is nothing new…leather shoes are all made of some kind of animal skin or other. It’s just a little weird seeing them made with the skin of the human animal…well…that and the toes are completely freaky.
Designboom recently featured the wire wonders of polyscene, a sculptor of whimsical works, from Edinburgh, Scotland. Among her creations, these ephemeral wire high heels. I love the imposition of the structure of the frame onto the delicate, earthy bare feet. The wire sculpture forms a scaffolding on the feet, which to me, conveys the ways that women force their feet into unnatural positions with footwear, and how this connotes transformation, restraint, and certain forms of gendered power.
Of course, maybe Polly Verity is just a woman who loves shoes. Maybe she woke up one day and said, you know, I’m tired of sculpting deranged unicorn heads. Let’s sculpt some sexy wire heels.
Man, you would have to have impeccable balance to model these shoes. Can you imagine if you accidentally squished them? “Ohh, shit…sorry dude.”
