A Concept in Art Beyond A Shoe

I love it when a shoe is no longer just a shoe. That is, when an artistic concept is transferred from a canvas to a shoe. It does not have to be popular to be appealing neither does it have to be fascinating. Dare I say, this is not only fascinating, it is captivating. Indeed, this is the work of Darren Romanelli (DR).

Darren “DR” Romanelli has just announced his fashion collaboration with US surf/skate clothing brand Hurley, the first line created for his own new fashion label Surjury. As the name implies, Romanelli attacks known brands with a surgeon's eye, slicing, dicing & de/reconstructing the original garments until they surface as new, stylistically improved pieces. Each garment can be identified as a handmade DR Surjury original by a small scar & stitches-shaped logo that Romanelli applies to each individual item.

With artist Alex Pardee on board, the mad DR was given access to surf label Hurley’s archive which he proceeded to dissect, lobotomize & transplant into a new Frankensteinian line of hand-cut & sewn pieces that will be unveiled at LA hotspot 181 Martel on August 5th. Pardee created a series of biological reconstruct-themed paintings to accentuate Romanelli's Surjury M.O. which extended most notably to a series of Nike Sabaku shoes that also went under the DR's knife.

An undisclosed run of the super-limited kix by Hurley's parent company will be released at the Martel opening, surely sending LA sneakerheads into a feeding-frenzy...