Karan Koron: Street Art On Geta

25 Dec 2007 Category: Features, Street Art, Worldwide

Karan Koron: Street Art On Geta

Street artist Kofie's reinterpretation of geta, traditional Japanese wooden sandals. From the "Karan Koron" exhibition. Courtesy of MakeOne.

By now, you must be in the middle of your Xmas festivities back home… So, to break up the routine, we have some fine street art for you, fused with classic Japanese design: Graffiti veteran MakeOne wanted to share his love for things Japanese from a sprayer’s perspective by compiling more than 60 street artists to customise geta, the very uniquely Japanese wooden sandals, with their styles, tags and motifs. Though the Karan Koron –- A Geta Art Exhibition at Los Angeles-based Melt Gallery is over by now, PingMag simply had to show you some of these lovely colourful designs and have a chat with MakeOne about the concept of the exhibition.

Written by Verena


Cute! Even the aerosol can got tiny little geta by street artist Slick-K2S! From the “Karan Koron” exhibition. Courtesy of Pinguino.

First, since you are into Japanese culture a lot - what was one of your earliest experiences?

I am guessing some of it began with my interest in Kaiju films, like Godzilla, Gamera, Mothra and so on. Others movies or series I’d watch were Ultraman, Super Sentai, Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot. I also liked the Gatchaman series, better known as “Battle of The Planets” in the US. As a kid, I truly believed that monsters and all that existed and happened in Japan and therefore always wanted to go!

Another thing that maybe lead me to really be drawn to the culture were my neighbours: At the tender age of seven, I had a crush on my Japanese neighbour, Christine. Her family would also invite me to eat occasionally and I was really impressed with their manners, discipline and of course their food - which became my first introduction to Japanese cuisine. Maybe eating and gazing at her as I ate enhanced the flavours…


Spiky details of an s/m-modified geta. Courtesy of Pinguino.

Historic references: LA-based Prime with “Jap Trap (Inspired by American Propaganda.)” Courtesy of Pinguino.

Such an early age, interesting! For now, how come you chose karan koron, the clacking sound of geta, as title for the exhibition?

I had played with different title names, but they all seemed a bit too contrived and overt. With “karan koron”, I felt that it was strong and very meaningful to Japan’’s culture. In addition, due to the Japanese tendency to use words to describe sounds, the more reason it was to use the clacking sound.

Tender Japan-themed motif by Fuco Ueda. Courtesy of MakeOne.

Then I’d have to ask, why geta as painting surface, of course?

I felt that it was what best represented my vision: The concept was to bring Japan to the forefront and highlight its craftsmanship and beauty. And to help break the stereotypes we often hold to about the country. I had initially thought of using uchiwa, Japanese fans, but they are so universal. Geta, on the other hand, are solely Japanese and can easily be identified as that.

A composition of blazing red on wood from LA-based Asylm: “Skyhigh.” Courtesy of Pinguino.

I see. But still, where would be the link between wooden shoes and spray paint?

There is no direct link to any art form but that of Japan’s arts or crafts for that matter - that’s the beauty behind the show. Any other link was all interpretive and subjective by each artist. The show fused those two things together; not what many called “an exhibition where the east meets the west”!

For the show, the street artists came to prepare the exhibition walls individually. Here, it is Nana Satake from Japan during a live painting session. Courtesy of Pinguino.

Right. Regarding the street artists: Why are these shoes’ wooden surfaces an ideal canvas?

Because it is flat. Let’s say it was something that it is round and albeit a good surface, it is not as feasible as the flat surface a geta offers.

Trimmed to fit a rhino’s size - especially cut geta by Scribe-DF. Courtesy of MakeOne.

The art expanded on the gallery walls - here a funny wordplay with three kanji, all meaning “walking.” The hiragana on the left says basically the same - ’san po’ for ‘three steps,’ meaning ‘a walk.’ From the Melt Gallery slideshow.

Did these artists specifically worked with Japanese tradition on the sandals? As far as I’ve seen, most of the sprayers decorated them with their street art motifs…

Yes, there were a few. But I strongly encouraged each artist to avoid doing anything “Japanesey”. The idea of the entire show was to have it all be completely Japanese with the exception, and for the most part, the art on the geta.

LA-based Felipe Smith, manga author of “MBQ,” in front of his geta art. Courtesy of Pinguino.

Ah, I get it. Apart from the exhibition, as you have been active in the LA graffiti scene since the early 80s (!) - what do you think of the styles the kids do nowadays?

It’s awesome! I cannot, by any means, knock on any of the new styles being done today. Graffiti has progressed and as an artist myself, I need to be open to its progression. However, many kids out there are just writing for the sake of it and not truly appreciating the beauty of creating letters or developing a style. They seem to lack the fundamentals of letter formation and therefore often times lack structure and composition in their letters. In order to properly manipulate letters and evolve, we need to fully understand the fundamentals of the letters. For the most part, I believe, a lot of the stuff “kids” do today is just regurgitated stuff.

… and some more Japanese motifs: UAMOU’s “Wave.” Courtesy of Pinguino.

What does that tell us about their recent styles?

Greater technique, better color variations and combinations, major distortion of letters. Meaning, that in order to push the envelope and distort a letter without losing its structure or form you need to know its groundwork. For example, Frank Gehry cannot do what he does with his architecture without completely knowing very well the fundamentals of it.

Any anecdotes from the ‘old days’ of graffiti in LA?


MakeOne with actor Robin Williams himself - who attended the opening party and is obviously into street art! Courtesy of MakeOne.

Yes. I will always remember the good ole days when all my close friends and crew would just sit for hours on end drawing, sketching, joking, laughing, playing –with no worries in the world, no egos to interfere, no racial awareness to divide, no economical knowledge to categorize, no jealousy to destroy…

Well, I bet it wasn’t always that rosy… To come to an end, I saw your picture with actor Robin Williams on your fotolog: What’s the story behind this? Does he like graffiti…?

He walked in one day to the Meltdown’ bookstore to purchase books and we gave him a flyer and invited him to the show. He came and even bought one of the pieces! I have heard he is a graffiti aficionado. Hopefully mine!

Wow! Interesting, indeed! Thank you, MakeOne for this great exhibition that combined street art with fine Japanese tradition.

68 Comments

  1. Too good to even consider wearing! I would have never though of the surface of geta as a canvas, great!

    Posted by: Andrei Sarusi on December 25th, 2007 at 10:19 pm

  2. Loving the Street Art. Thanks for the inspiration on this beautiful Christmas! Keep going . . .

    Posted by: nico on December 25th, 2007 at 11:13 pm

  3. My typography instructor has a pair of geta on his wall featuring some amazing typography in Kanji and the kana; it’s great to see more of this being explored.

    Posted by: chami on December 25th, 2007 at 11:51 pm

  4. This is amazing work, and reminds me of Scott Rench’s work about two years ago called ‘Try Walking In My Shoes’ where he cast porcelain geta’s and then painted over them… It was an amazing body of work..

    http://www.joshspear.com/item/scott-rench-try-walking-on-my-shoes/

    Posted by: Josh Spear on December 26th, 2007 at 1:58 pm

  5. Nice! I’d like to wear some geta one day…
    Those rhino ones are hilarious! So well made!

    Posted by: Akai on December 26th, 2007 at 3:10 pm

  6. Lovely, very stylish & cool - a good example of Japanese artists taking a simple idea and making something truly unbelievable!

    Posted by: Hannah on December 26th, 2007 at 8:59 pm

  7. I saw a show by Scott Rench back in 2005 who did the same thing but all of his shoes were made of clay.
    Checkout his work at http://www.yosoh.com

    Posted by: Nick Geankoplis on December 26th, 2007 at 10:32 pm

  8. ^^^ wait…this isn’t a “Japanese artist” is it?

    Posted by: John on December 27th, 2007 at 5:13 pm

  9. graffiti…no matter where it is…is a blessing in disguise…

    graffiti was meant to exist…if it wasn’t….people wouldn’t
    do it…..more places it is the greater the chance people
    will recognize it as a true expression of art & design.

    Posted by: envic1 (back row junkies) on December 29th, 2007 at 4:58 am

  10. http://www.german-street-art.com

    Posted by: Max on December 31st, 2007 at 11:05 am

  11. awesome article, inspiring work ^___^ love the idea of geta as canvas.

    Posted by: nyankorita on January 3rd, 2008 at 6:27 pm

  12. I’m gonna stay away from the ‘jap trap’ and ’spiky’ getas but they all look excellent.

    Posted by: Siggy on January 22nd, 2008 at 2:26 pm

  13. cho sugoi ne!!

    Posted by: Mika on January 27th, 2008 at 7:47 pm

  14. Thanks to MAKEONE for including me in the show…..i was blown away by the quality of the work that was presented…..

    Posted by: VYAL on January 28th, 2008 at 7:05 am

  15. MakeOne rules!… The artwork for that show kicked ass… Looking forward to seeing another one of those go down!.

    Posted by: Johnny VamPotna on January 28th, 2008 at 7:34 am

  16. Best show i’ve seen in a while.. Great pieces, music & fire acts, and of course the sake! “Make” it a yearly event… do it.

    Posted by: Drast on January 28th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

  17. i don’t have a website >.< but i’d just to say this site is amazing the the street art is incredable and the fact that u got to meet robin willains is amazing i love him sooo much <3 i would marry him if i could

    Posted by: courtney on March 30th, 2008 at 6:52 am

  18. I completely loved this show. I must say that it was one of the better shows I have attended. I am a proud owner of one the pieces sold in this show. I hope there is a part two with more artists form japan.

    Posted by: Alan Tekuramo on April 6th, 2008 at 3:40 am

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