by Evan Duggan
VANCOUVER, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Local visual artist Toblerusse stood behind a table covered with paintings of Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan at the Vancouver Convention Centre, Canada.
Some of the 23 portraits -- meant to match Jordan's jersey number -- were of Jordan himself, but many were of the Hall-of-Famer's iconic shoes, the Nike Air Jordans.
It was Vancouver's third annual Ultimate Sneaker Show where Tobelrusse was showcasing his Jordan series of paintings, as well as a book he recently published that included prints of all the 23 paintings.
"I grew up in the 1980s and was a Bulls fan," he told Xinhua. "The Jordan passion has always been there. He's been retired for a while, but I found that this project took me back to that a little bit. It was fun."
Tobelrusse started the art project nearly four years ago. "It started off with (painting) one shoe," he said. "I had always been into abstract. I wasn't into trying to do realism and people and portraitures, but it grew and grew and grew."
Though Jordan hasn't played a National Basketball Association game since 2003, his Air Jordan shoe line continues to be a hot commodity. Since the Air Jordan 1 debuted in 1984, Nike has released 32 standard-issue models of the iconic high-tops. There have been countless variations.
"I think the legend of Michael Jordan is so large right now," said Dalton Jackson, the producer of the one-day expo. "Even for generations to come, they'll still hear his name and still learn about the player that he was."
The show brings together shoe re-sellers, traders, artists and apparel sellers.
"It's basically just the sneaker culture coming together," Jackson said. "There is a bit of re-selling and there's a bit of custom work by some artists that do their own unique customs on sneakers."
He said sneaker culture is clearly still a major part of the fashion world: "The celebrity endorsements are always going to keep the youth interested."
Over at a sales table belonging to local shoe seller Stay Fresh, the Cactus Jack Air Jordan 4 Retro was getting a lot of attention. The bright blue and black suede high-tops are a collaboration design with hip-hop artist Travis Scott.
They are marked at 600 Canadian dollars (450 U.S.dollars) at the show. Aleix Dai, Stay Fresh's owner, said the shoe market is like the stock market -- brands and models go up and down in price depending on scarcity, image and public perception.
