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Nice Kicks: Talk about the gas mask made from the?Nice Kicks New Balance. How did that come about?
Freehand Profit: Basically, I am a huge fan of collaborations, especially the ones that New Balance does. The general release are great, but when New Balance collabs with somebody it is HEAT! The design of the shoe was great and the choice of materials was phenomenal, but I didn?t even know that going into it. The reason I chose to do it was to actually say thank you. Thanks to you guys, and in a way to a lot of the other sneaker blogs who have been instrumental in getting my work seen. That?s a really powerful thing for an artist, especially a visual artist. Garnering the attention of the community like that was really influential, and that was kind of my tip of the hat I?m really glad I did it because it ended up being one of my favorite masks. I think it has more character than a lot of the other ones.
Nice Kicks x New Balance 1500 Gas MaskNice Kicks: Would you be interested in doing a collaboration sneaker? What would it look like?
Freehand Profit: Oh yeah! Absolutely! I have sketches for shoes that I have designed, but there is a whole other skill set that I realize you have to have to step into the ring and say you design shoes. There?s product design and industrial design that I?m not familiar with yet. I?m always looking to learn new skill sets. I would love to do a collaborative sneaker, and I?m sure it?s around the corner. I?m really looking forward to it. It just wouldn’t have been enough to describe what I would do if I were to let loose on a collaborative sneaker.
(Freehand sent the example below of his collaboration vision)
Nice Kicks: Going back to you being a hip hop head, and that leading to your love for sneakers, is the ultimate goal to carve your own lane in hip hop culture?
Freehand Profit: To a certain extent. There is, of course, the artistic process and the ideas behind them that that were engrained in me from the beginning. I?m sort of on the fence with things. On one end I?m an artist. On the other end I?m a hip hop head. Unfortunately, those two worlds work completely different. What I?ve tried to do is approach my work as an emcee would when creating an album or making a track. The art world asks for more. They want to know why. Why are you doing these things? What does it all mean? So when I first started, I was really exploring the idea of hip hop fashion surviving the Apocalypse. As work continued, I found myself thinking about each shoe?s identity, consumerism in a world of war, or visual languages in branding and style. It keeps going because the work continues to bring up new questions for them. I don?t much go for art that thinks it has the answers, but one of my favorite parts of the work is finding the character that each pair of shoes takes on as a mask. The other side of it is exactly how absurd it all is. I think it?s important for art to be absurd. Actually, Tinker (Hatfield) said it best. He said, ?When you combine unlikely things together, you create something new.? That?s extremely hard because everything has been done. It?s a whirlwind of all these other things, and I think it?s why it?s the body of work that has garnered the most attention. Also, it has really taken most of my attention. This is probably the biggest body of work that I?ve created to date. I think part of it is because there are so many different levels to it. It keeps me interested in doing the work. It keeps me wanting to do new work. Every mask presents new problems, and that?s what I get out of it on a personal level. I?m a problem solver. I like to take something and think ?there?s no way this is going to work? and then make it work. Each mask really does that for me.
Air Jordan 4 “Cement” Gas Mask Preview
