Vick Almighty gives us a closer look at Al Baker, aka Deadstock Anatomies (https://www.instagram.com/deadstockanatomies). Motivated by turning sneakers into art, Al deconstructs some of the most beloved shoes in sneaker culture and displays them in a way that changes anyone’s viewpoints on sneakers.
Al shares that his wife’s passion for entomology kickstarted his hobby of taking apart sneakers and framing them. She takes macro photos of bugs and also frames them. Al thought to himself, what if someone did that with sneakers? The rest is history.
While Al normally works on one-off pieces, he’ll be doing a 5 ft. x 5ft. display of Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Lows — a project that costs at least $8,000 in just the sneakers alone.
Al also touches on a previous Travis project commissioned by Dana White.
Going back to the 5 ft. x 5 ft. project, Al plans on gifting it to Travis Scott as a celebration of his legendary work with Jordan Brand and the Air Jordan 1 Lows.
What do you think? Would you love a sneaker artwork piece like this?
See you next week!
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I've seen a lot of different and unique Types of sneaker art but this is on a Whole different level taking apart some Of the most sought-after sneakers and Turning them into one- of A- kind Masterpieces it's something that's never Been done quite like this this isn't Just art it's a tribute to Sinker Culture made for those who truly Understand the craftsmanship history and Value behind every pair when you realize Just how deep this goes and how Expensive it'll change the way you see Sneaker collecting forever So wow what gave you the idea to even Try something like this so the Inspiration behind my artwork is my wife Um so she's she's a a big hobbyist in Entomology she does these dope ass macro Photography of insects here in Las Vegas The inspiration behind that is when she She first started doing entomology stuff She actually did a lot of pinning of Insects and framing them and hanging Them up on the wall had an idea poping My head and the idea was basically what If I took the shoe apart and just laid It flat you know if I laid it flat Framed it up what would it look like and Uh first thing I did was I bought a Replica Jordan one and uh cuz I didn't Want to mess up the shoe a real shoe but I I bought a a replica Jordan one took It apart and I just laid it out and it
Was my first piece and it was there's no Changes really need to be made you know So it was actually it worked out I took That shoe to a couple local uh shows uh There was a local sneaker show that came Through showed it around got a ton of Love and then uh two weeks later Sneaker Con came around even more love and uh I Felt like I had something Going the pieces I do right now are Typically smaller single shoe Pieces um I was given advice when I first the First uh show I ever been to well second Show I ever been to to show off my work I uh met um JC Lopez and um he gave me some pretty good Advice to think about where it's like Instead of just running with the same Thing doing the same thing the whole Time you always got to think about new Ways to do what you Do so this is a 5T X 5ft 60x 60 in Piece And I'm going to be using five different Shoes they're all going to be Travis Scott Lowe's and uh it's going to be Kind of like a color wheel kind of Deo So it's going to be five single so like All right shoes of the classic the OG Lowe's and it's going to be like Lightest to darkest you can kind of hang It any way you want it'll still look Good and that's kind of the idea behind
It yeah I just have a passion for shoes I mean growing up I uh I've always had a Weird love about sneakers and drawing Them designing them collecting them and It was one of those things where Obviously I'm not paying for the shoes My M my mom my dad I always had to ask Them for it and it just constantly it Was just like no no no because there's Always a new pair coming out so it just Got to the point where I just didn't Feel like it was normal to like sneakers So I kind of moved on but then I Realized growing up that it's actually a Huge community and I did have a passion And I wasn't the only one that had a Passion so it was H it was nice to see And that's what really kind of got me Back into It is uh added all up together that's Eight grand worth of shoes right there So like this pair right here $2,500 $1,800 $2,300 like it's just with Tax two grand these shoes would cost me Two Grand and here I Am ruining people's days I hear it all The time Too or I see it on social media like People commenting it's like as much as This hurts me it looks Really The the shoe on the inside and it what It does is
It it softens up the Glue however I just learned a brand new Technique to do this where I don't Necessarily have to steam up the whole Shoe so some parts it worries me that I'm going to mess it up somehow I leave Water Stains but uh the new idea is using like Acetone and Go I just don't have it right now I'm Going to just do it the way I've been Doing it for a while since it's been Working for Me yeah if I don't pay attention the Water gets on my fingers burns the sh Out of me I'm curious how did you get to work with Dana White on this Travis Scott project So the Travis Scott piece I mean it was It was commissioned By Dana White and Uh a homie of mine uh Jordan diab got Got me in connected with him and he was Able to uh introduce me to Dana sh Me sometimes no news is Yeah this is H all the pie make Cactus jacket yeah Exactly yeah I wrote that out too and That's pretty badass man appreciate it Man so and I got a piece over him and I Kind of just pitched the idea and Immediately Dana just went to the back Hit up the safe and came out with you Know wads of cash and you immediately
Loved [Music] It would you say this five shoot Tris Scot project is the biggest one you've Done so Far literally speaking and figuratively Speaking I would say yes so um because It's a 5 foot by five foot piece I mean It the most work I've ever done uh for a Piece itself but it's also the most Money I made on a piece so so yeah I Would definitely say it's the biggest Project so Far the piece behind me uh which is you Know technically going to be gifted to Travis Scott himself like it may have Not happened yet technically but it was Uh seeing it all come together and Seeing the piece framed up and Everything it just it's probably one of My my more loved pieces [Music] A [Music] [Music] [Music]
