What do you get when you bring three artists together to take on an archetypal product? French maison Louis Vuitton has launched the White Canvas: LV Trainer in Residence exhibition to find out.
The first collection in a new series dedicated to the LV Trainer sees three prominent artists—Ecuadorian American graffiti artist Lady Pink, Puerto Rican artist Lee Quiñones, and the Estate of Rammellzee—given carte blanche to put their own spin on the house’s iconic sneaker.
Designed by the late Louis Vuitton menswear artistic director Virgil Abloh for the brand’s spring/summer 2019 show, the LV Trainer combines the codes of the ubiquitous basketball sneaker with the savoir faire of the house’s ateliers.
The iconoclastic nature of sneaker has been amplified through the White Canvas: LV Trainer in Residence exhibition, tapping on contemporary artists curated by Abloh collaborator Sky Gellatly to “elevate a cohort of artists first through exhibition, and then enable extra entré into their oeuvres via collaborative sneakers,” according to the press release.
The sneakers feature designs that have been hand-painted by the individual artists, adapted from their works, and will be showcased at the ephemeral Louis Vuitton store at Garage Traversi in Milan from 24 February to 16 March 2023. A
Additionally, works by the artists—Celtic Piece by Lady Pink; SPLIT #1 and Tablet 3 by Lee Quiñones; and Incantation of the Queen Bee by Rammellzee as well as the ‘L’ and ‘V’ sculptures from his Letters Racers alphabet—and multimedia installations giving a glimpse behind the artists’ process of creating the sneakers will be on display at the store.
The store will also be the sole retail point of commercialised versions of the limited-edition LV Trainers.