GOD SAVE THE SNEAKERS: Alê Jordão

Walton Fine Arts Gallery in Chelsea is presenting Brazilian artist Alê Jordão’s inaugural London solo exhibition, which follows his successful participation at SP- Arte 2024.

GOD SAVE THE SNEAKERS showcases a compilation of Jordão’s diverse body of work, now gathered in his eponymous book. Jordão’s multi-disciplinary artistic practice combines his passion for art, fashion and design with a love of street style and sneaker and skater culture. His sneaker collection started in the early 1990s and he now owns more than 3,000 pairs. Jordão has been incorporating sneakers into his art for over twenty years, in the form of neons, skateboards, graffiti, boomboxes and even digitally printed rugs. Fusing urban, street and pop art with a sense of fun, what started out as an obsession for collecting sneakers has turned into an extensive artistic oeuvre which can be found in collections such as the National Historical Museum in Rio de Janeiro, the MACS Museum of Contemporary Art in Sorocaba-SP and the Palazzo Barberini in Rome.

Jordão is launching his ‘God Save the Sneakers’ book at Walton Fine Arts in London before heading to Milan for a book launch at the ADI Design Museum.

Lee Sharrock: You obviously have an extreme sneaker obsession! I’ve seen artworks inspired by sneakers before, but digitally printed sneaker-shaped Persian-style rugs must be a first! What inspired you to create an entire art exhibition inspired by sneakers?

Alê Jordão: The intention is to take all the sneakers in my collection out of the closet and transform them into art, on several different supports, so that people can interact with the sneakers with another function.

After studying fine art at Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado in Brazil, you moved to Milan to study design at Domus before embarking on a career as a multi-disciplinary artist and author of many books. Your work can be found in museum collections all over the world, and you’ve succeeded in elevating sneakers and street culture to high culture. What would you say is your career highlight so far?

By studying design, fashion and art, I found the fusion that represents me. And with the new book I had the opportunity to combine my neon art with design and elements of street culture, which feels like a high point of my career.

You’re launching your ‘God Save the Sneakers’ book at the ADI Design Museum in Milan during Milan Design Week before heading to London for the exhibition at Walton Fine Arts. You’ve been exhibiting during Design Week in Milan for 20 years. Is there a big fan base for sneakers and your sneaker-based artwork in Italy?

Yes, Italy has grown a lot, from haute couture to sneakers, as has happened across the world. I think my work is well accepted in Italy because I have some Italian heritage, so we speak with gestures, the same language, and easy humor.

Can you give a bit of insight into what inspired you to write the book, what Brazilian photographers you collaborated with on the book, and how you worked with curators from art, fashion and street culture to curate it thematically?

I had always wanted to write a book, and it wasn’t difficult to choose the topic for my first one, which reflects my entire world: Sneakers, art, fashion and design.

The invitation came from Afluente partner William Baglione with Julius Weidemann of Taschen from Brazil, together they made the book happen! The main Brazilian photographers in each area were chosen, who have also done some work with the artist. All the costumes, all the sneakers and all the scenery featured in the book were created or selected by me. This is the first book that is not a catalogue, neither of art, nor of sneakers, nor of Design, it is everything combined together!

The exhibition at Walton Fine Arts is curated by Lillian Pacce, who suggested London as a location for the launch since your book references the Queen of England. Can you explain what the Queen of England has to do with sneakers?

Yes! it all came from when I heard the Sex Pistols God Save the Queen. I made a pun and put it on Sneakers like the Queen of the Streets, in a real and organic way, inspired by skateboarding.

You have over 3,000 pairs of sneakers in your collection, and Anshowinhas describes you as a ‘Sneakerhead’. When did you start collecting, and when did you realise the historical and anthropological importance of the collection in terms of fashion, design and street culture?

I’ve been keeping sneakers since ’92 and that’s when I started my collection. The passion and obsession came from the fact that it was difficult to source the Sneakers in Brazil. So the scarcity of the sneakers fueled all this desire.