Joshua Bienko

Repurposing the iconic red soles of Christian Louboutin shoes as a canvas, Bienko’s Ever So Much More So addresses the inherent tensions between commercial fashion consumption and fine art’s transcendence beyond commodification. Bienko paints iconic works by artists who’ve challenged what art can be – Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp – on the bottom of his shoes. In doing so, he renders the shoes functionally incapable of being worn, diminishing their use value. Conversely, the addition of artwork on the bottom increases their exchange value, transcending commodity status and raising the shoes’ aesthetic, art-historical, and contextual significance. By pairing the painted shoes with photographic reproductions, he further amplifies the tension between real and perceived value.