I like to think of myself as having rather simple taste in clothing, and have had a similar taste in shoe style for quite a few years, I don't believe that wearing any brand name or style makes a person better than someone else, so you might gather that shoes are not that important to me, but they are; enough so that they have warranted that I write this blog entry.
Shoes are listed on most clothing websites as accessories rather than as their own category like 'shirts', 'pants' or 'outerwear' are. They are regarded mostly as something that adds to some other thing, rather than as the basis, but when I look at shoes on my feet, I see them as very base; they mark where I meet the earth, where I begin and the rest of the world exists, and they are the buffer for that coming together, which can feel harmonious, but at times seems volatile and hazardous. Under these conditions, shoes must be for me something more than just a covering and protection for my feet against the hardness of the ground below me.
I should also add here that I have a condition in my feet called plantar fasciitis (which requires that I wear orthotic shoe inserts or shoes with excellent arch support), as well as being prone to foot calluses, but these conditions have only heightened my anxiety about where I meet the world; I don't believe they gave rise to it.
Phillip Guston and Alberto Giacometti are two artists which have dealt with similar issues in their work, and I've always felt that the most interesting artists are the ones whose anxieties dominate their work. Problematic relations to oneself and the world are not necessarily enjoyable, but they can be productive, and possibly interesting. They produce something which is perplexing and hard to describe.
Shoes for me then must possess extra powers. Like the spacesuit of an astronaut, they must be both in and 'out of this world'.
I should also add here that I have a condition in my feet called plantar fasciitis (which requires that I wear orthotic shoe inserts or shoes with excellent arch support), as well as being prone to foot calluses, but these conditions have only heightened my anxiety about where I meet the world; I don't believe they gave rise to it.
Phillip Guston and Alberto Giacometti are two artists which have dealt with similar issues in their work, and I've always felt that the most interesting artists are the ones whose anxieties dominate their work. Problematic relations to oneself and the world are not necessarily enjoyable, but they can be productive, and possibly interesting. They produce something which is perplexing and hard to describe.
Shoes for me then must possess extra powers. Like the spacesuit of an astronaut, they must be both in and 'out of this world'.
The Clarks Desert Trek...at one time my only pair of shoes
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