Contributor: Nar8iv

(Coinciding with STR.CRD 2011 Urban Nar8ivs features an interview with ATANG TSHIKARE and will be hosting sneaker info-bites from Atang’s mind for this entire week.)

Above: Atang Tshikare inspects the progress on his canvas.

Atang Tshikare is a sneaker customizer - which means that he makes “one-of-a-kind” artworks out of sneakers brought to him.

Kid is dextrous as he moves his fingers with Molotow paint markers.

I can see he validates his statement “I’m not just about using markers on sneakers, I’m using different meterials”.he’s busy with a canvas as I ask him question after question.

He sounds like picasso.

I know it’s a huge leap comparing a sneaker customizer with the most famous artist in history but I can’t help it.

Atang Tshikare or A-tag, as he writes his name on BBM is an illustrator,sneaker customizer and fine artist.The first exposure I had to his work was an illustration - half street/half cubist in nature, a character he drew while he was still being represented by an agency.

The canvas he’s working on is a far cry from that first piece.

Above: Atang working on the canvas described in this piece

Later that day I will ask him “aren’t you concerned that the marks you make on some sneakers won’t last?”It’s the same concern I have about the fine art he’s doing, a series of canvases hanging at VANSA’s office.The work is a mish-mash of enamel spraypaint allowed to run over what looks like oil-based housepaint,markers and even pencil.

I’m wondered about an artwork which constantly moves.

He says, “Well there’s ways you can make it look real proper.Although it’s difficult to get world-class materials you find ways of making it work…but also remember it’s not something you’re meant to wear everyday”.

Like a luxury sportscar that you dont drive everyday?”,I venture.

“Yeah”, he laughs, “like a luxury car..i like that”.

Above: One of Atang’s sneaker customs for a client named Waheed.The

artwork is also a play on the word ‘weed’.

“When I approached VIVID LUXURY to do work for them and told them I was an illustrator they weren’t interested.and then I decided to ask them..wait what do you guys want,what are you looking for?”They said they were looking for a garffiti artist and i told them I did that too..That’s how I started working with them- they do marketing campaigns for luxury brands like Gucci,Bentley”.

Above: Clockwise from top,an aquatic themed custom on a rainboot out of Adidas’ Blue range,Puma Contact custom using mixed media (note the purple fabric),Converse All Star custom which reads ‘funky’ on one side and ‘feet’ on the other,Adidas ZX8000 Torsion custom.

With that said I understand how he makes peace with the transitory nature of his artwork.It’s something only a graffiti artist like Atang could do as they walk away from a wall in the knowledge that their peice is at the mercy of nature’s harsh elements.

I decide to ask Atang about where it all started in a way that doesnt suggest I want to know which family member was the creative flint-rock,but nonetheless I discover that Atang’s dad is Mogorosi Motshumi who worked for “Staff Rider”,The Voice and “Learn and Teach”,in a way that is the furthest possible thing from name-dropping.

He gets that far off look in his eye of someone playing the dusty reels of memories in their head.

Above: ‘Hug thugs’,a Stan smith custom made during an Adidas Ultimate X event.

” I spent 2 years in England working for MCR Music.It paid quite well and I bought quite a few pairs of sneakers at SIZE.It came to the point where a colleage suggested that I make my own sneakers since I was buying so many.I made a few pairs and ended up taking 2 to 3 pairs to the outdoor market in Arndale , Manchester.”

Atang speaks about England’s influence on his sneaker passion…

“There was this sneaker store which had a big skating ramp inside and the owner had a live iguana on one side.”

“….and then this shoe display where you would see black and white monitors mounted at eye level.When you stood infront of them you woud realize that the the monitors were linked cameras at shoe level showing what you were wearing!”

He continues to describe the transition from the UK when he moved to Bloemfontein and played the Hip Hop slot at Kovsie FM.

“I used to play alot of underground stuff..I used to play some of Emile’s stuff, (Emile YX of Blacknoise) and I used to sell cd’s for guys like Kenny (DJ Kenzhero),”Krook’d Tha Warmonga” (Dopey from S.O.S) and the Hymphatic Thabs.

Above: An Urban Vinyl Munny custom

But I left Bloem because it wasnt really open to new ideas so I moved to Cape Town.”

“I worked at the V&A Waterfront’s Adidas store and learnt alot about the company’s history and would even photograph the sneakers of customers who would visit the store.It wasnt unlikely to find the sort of person who would come back just to show you the rarer pair of three stripes they picked up in Italy”.

Above: Adidas Samba custom - Made for Wynand Krawinkel - RSA Adidas MD

who asked for something with an AC Milan theme to it

We sit at the back of Toitoy in Kloof discussing the canvas he’s working on and watching pretty girls wear their least in the Cape sunshine .A passerby looks in curiously and we call him to have a look.While Atang speaks to this prospective client I shoot samples of his work. As I record Atang’s activity I dismiss any qualms about my comparison to Picasso when I think about how Picasso was fascinated by different materials and media.

I see something in Atang’s multipronged approach which prompts me to recall that Picasso too had been searching for that “transmutation”,through all sorts of means,of deep feeling that was inexpressabe through words.

All photographs by Nar8iv/Scott Williams unless stated otherwise .

Atang can be found in Johazardous Burg at STR.CRD on 24th and 25th September.

His Fine Art work can be seen at VANSA’s offices.

His online portfolio can be found at: www.zabalazaa.com