Quick Pick - Sneakers Become Art at the Bata Shoe Museum

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Peter Max x Randy Shoe Sneakers (photo by Kailee Mandel, courtesy of Bata Shoe Museum)

Can art be a pair of shoes? It depends who you ask, of course, but for a lot of diehard sneaker collectors, art is just that: a fine pair of kicks.

With that in mind, the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto is presenting Art/Wear: Sneakers x Artists. The show opens Oct. 3 and features sneakers from a slew of artists and designers including Andrew Mania, Damien Hirst, ESPO, Eric Haz, Jean-Michel Basquiat, KAWS, Keith Haring, MSCHF, Peter Max, Ruohan Wang, Takashi Murakami, Tom Sachs, Vicky Vuong and Virgil Abloh, to name just a few.

While some of the shoes have been created very recently, others go back a few decades. There’s a fab vintage Peter Max pair, for instance, designed by the legendary American Pop artist circa 1969 to 1971. 

Another pair by Daniel Arsham features a 3D printed sole with branding that can only be exposed by blue light and a special box that once opened, can’t be closed again. (It includes gloves for handling this precious pair.)

“Sneaker and artist collabs are increasingly finding their way into conventional art venues such as museums and auction houses with some elevated to a status similar to limited-edition artist prints,” says Elizabeth Semmelhack, the Bata Shoe Museum’s director and senior curator.

“However, the popularity of these collabs can also be seen as democratizing ‘high’ art, inviting a reconsideration of the intersections between art, fashion, and identity in the modern world.”

Art? Fashion? Just something to put on your feet? No matter how you look at it, it’s fun to see how an artist’s eye can influence what we wear pretty much every day. ■

Art/Wear: Sneakers x Artists opens Oct. 3 and runs through March 23, 2026 at The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto

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