Shoes on a Wire – A Custom Updated by Street Artists

In a world gone wireless it’s worth noting that we still have a number of them strung across city streets in New York, and people like slinging sneakers over them.  They have a magnetic attraction to each other, these wires and old sneakers, like kids and ice cream trucks, politicians and press conferences, teenage boys and porno. And when there is not a telephone or electrical wire available, those kicks like to hang in the branches of trees too.

Urban folklore never quite decides on the reason for this practice – sneakers on a wire could be a marquee for your local crack house, a tribute to a person who passed, or a way to pay back your cousin Ricky for telling your friends that you kissed Marleen Mathewson in the back of the bus.

Whatever the original reason for this practice, Street Artists have been playing with the custom over the last decade and finding new ways to festoon the cityscape with footwear. Yesterday’s appearance of new airborne dogs covered by Olek’s crocheted camouflage on the Lower East Side reminded us of more street photos by Jaime Rojo that play on the same theme.

Olek (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Olek (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Googly Eye Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville and an Unknown Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville in Chicago (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville in Miami (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Photo © Jaime Rojo

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