adidas Performance Urban Art Series Exhibition

As fashion week in Berlin neared it’s end, eatmoreshoes headed over to the West Berlin Gallery on Brunnenstrasse to catch up with our friends from the adidas Performance Store and see what they’ve been up to. Inspired by the constant designer collaborations from the adidas Originals line, Performance decided to create their own Urban Art Series.

Nine international artists were asked to combine their work into not only an art show but also a special release of fifteen adidas Performance shirts. The event was incredibly packed, with more than 200 people showing up to view the art, browse the shirts, enjoy some drinks, and dance a bit to the tunes that floated out of the gallery space and onto the street. The series of shirts were as diverse as the artists who designed them, depicting energy, animals, and humans in abstracted, cartoon-like, and elaborate urban art forms.

Mr. Jago (UK) contributed spray-painted works on canvas of colorful explosions. His work combined an aggressive mixture of angles, geometric shapes, and raw emotional fun. Chow Martin (Canada) showcased his large artistic interpretations of animal figures in ink and pencil on tracing paper. His use of line quality was dynamic and the inclusion of muscle definition truly made his work memorable.

Pomme Chan (UK) also worked with ink and pencil on paper, creating nearly photo-realistic illustrations of rats, knives, food, and spiders. The work of Ville Savimaa (Finland) contrasted this style dramatically, as they were surreal, colorful giclée prints, incorporating soft (yet bright) pastel colors showing animals in human poses with various props.

The other five artists – Byroglyphics (UK), Rubens LP (Brazil), Robbie Wilkinson (UK), Claire Skully (UK), and Calvin Ho (China) – also displayed their inspiring works in the West Berlin Gallery for those who attended to enjoy. Don’t forget to hit the adidas Performance store in Berlin to grab one (or more) of the special fifteen shirts before their out of print!

written by Dylan Cromwell

photography by Harold Kohn