Sebastian Errazuriz: 12 Shoes for 12 Lovers
Tom Collins speaks to Chilean artist Sebastian Errazuriz about his latest work — a collection of women’s shoes inspired by 12 of his ex-lovers.
We all have our own ways of dealing with break-ups. Some of us suck it up and move on, while others head to their nearest karaoke bar and slowly spill their heart out while singing Boyz 2 Men — End of the Road. However, New York based artist Sebastian Errazuriz has an entirely different way of dealing with heartbreak — he creates shoes. And he’s brought them all to Summerhall.
Last year, famous shoe brand, Melissa asked Sebastian to create a range of shoes for them. A huge compliment in itself as the manufacturer has in the past worked exclusively with Jason Wu and Karl Lagerfeld himself.
At the same time, Sebastian was in the process of creating a series of oil paintings of some of his former lovers. Yet, when this opportunity arouse he realised that it was the perfect opportunity to combine art, fashion, functionality, and love.
“What I tried to do is bring certain sculptural, conceptual, symbolic, sentimental elements of the arts into functional design pieces,” explained 36-year-old Chilean. “I have always been quite lucky with the ladies, so I have a good set of exes and a lot of stories to draw upon.
“It occurred to me that whenever we are dating someone, we are completely fascinated by the person we are with and a lot of our world is revolved around them. But, for whatever reason, after you split up this person they slowly start fading away into obscurity and completely disappear from our lives.
“So I wanted to create some sort of an homage of pride and happiness. Almost like the cliché of the hunter, with a trophy wall.”
“All girls love shoes”, continued Sebastian. “It’s one of these obsessions that woman have. But at the same time, there are lots of men who have a fetish for shoes.
“Most pornography includes woman in high heels, so there is a lot of fascination with the heel, both from the woman’s perspective and the man’s perspective. It objectifies woman, but it also empowers them.”
Each one of Sebastian’s shoes are based on one specific characteristic that represents an ex. For each, he’s also written a short story about that particular relationship and, when possible, a photograph of the former lover, but with their face hidden. Many of us find it difficult contact just one of our exes, so Sebastian really set himself a challenge when he decided to get in touch with 12 of his.
“All the names have been changed and there’s three or four that we had to replicate the photos for. Apart from that all of the photos are the real exes. Some of these girls I dated many years ago. Some of them are married now, or have daughters.
“In general even if they were nervous, they were happy to do it. It was funny for them to have their ex boyfriend calling them and telling them that he is dedicating a shoe to them.”
All of the shoes were made using a 3D printer — a 1980s invention that has made a serious comeback in recent years. Sebastian told us that with out 3D printers his latest work would have not been possible.
“3D printing is opening up a whole new realm of possibilities. For example, Shoe 1. Honey could not have been created without a 3D printer. In my practice we make a lot of furniture, among other things. It really doesn’t make any sense to make a blueprint constructed on the computer, where we are sculpting digital wire frames, to then have to go to a place where they chop down trees, then cut them into little blocks, to then take those blocks home and then cut them into smaller blocks and then glue them together and then carve them out. It is so ridiculous.”
However, out of all the shoes, there is one that really stands out. Shoe 12. The Rock “Alice”.
“That was my last relationship, and the longest,” explained Sebastian, but with a more lugubrious tone. “The split was for bigger reasons. That was the hardest one. The shoes have a variety of tones, some are funny, some are spectacular, some are empowering woman, some are making them objects, there’s are variety of elements. The Rock is just strength, respect and love and… I don’t know.
“It’s a tougher piece. A sadder piece. It stands more alone.”
Sebastian spent almost a year of his life in Edinburgh, where these shoes are now on display at Summerhall. While reminiscing about his time in the city, he told us that he should have considered making a shoe for our Scottish women.
“Edinburgh was such a great place to study. It is a great city. I should have made one for a Scottish girl. I was always really impressed that Scottish girls would go out in the cold in a mini-skirt and high heels.
“I should have created a really wobbly one for when they come back home drunk.”
