Closer Look at the ASICS x CHITO Gallery Showcase at SCOPE Miami
Traversing the realms of fashion, design and footwear through the lens of the Mexico-based artist.
The SCOPE Art Show at Miami Beach ran until December 8, bringing together 85 international exhibitors to debut artworks centered on the show’s theme of Interdependence. Hypeart made its first-ever debut at SCOPE during the height of Miami Art Week, presenting a selection of artworks by Stickymonger, UFO907 and KATSU — each artist spotlighting the significance of spray paint in the contemporary art landscape.
An installation presented by ASICS in partnership with Seattle-born, Mexico-based artist CHITO unveiled a retrospective of the artist’s formative legacy, traversing his distinguished imprint across streetwear and luxury fashion.
Rising as an artistic medium in the 1960s in cities like Philadelphia and New York, graffiti (or writing) bares its soul as a mark of anti-establishment. A form of catharsis through color and caricature, CHITO reclaims its history as a larger conduit for expression. By manipulating airbrushed textures and mixed media, the artist challenges the bounds of storytelling and the intersection between fine art and fashion.
Sancheeto’s alter ego, CHITO, rose to prominence after highly anticipated collaborations with Supreme, Givenchy and Veilance, subverting high-fashion canvases with stylized iconography. High and low labels have gravitated to his fluid, experimental approach to linework and unique ability to highlight the subtleties of bespoke tailoring.
Among the canvases used throughout the display is the GEL-KINETIC FLUENT™, the newest addition to the ASICS family. An amalgam of the GEL-KINETIC™ and GEL-FLUENT™ lines, the silhouette offers the best of both worlds in cushioning technology, available in black and taupe colorways. FF BLAST™ PLUS and scutoid GEL™ aid in impact absorption and deliver a cloud-like stride; the overall construction takes visual cues from the technical welding and eyelet elements, evoking heritage models from the early 2010s.
CHITO adorns the shoe’s toebox with custom “FINESSE PUP” decals, referencing a signature dog motif frequently appearing in his idiosyncratic world. Other rowdy characters, some joyous and some smug, appear across a selection of apparel pieces and outerwear suspended in glass displays along the walls. In standalone units, family photos, journal entries, doodles and initial sketches on lunch paper bags sprawled across a table reflect the heartbeat in CHITO’s work, a preserved, childlike wonder personified in his cartoonish figures. These characters transcend the selection of garments into wearable novelties, anchoring to emotions transient in nature, much like the medium of graffiti.
During the showcase, limited quantities of the special edition GEL-KINETIC FLUENT™ were available to purchase in person and sold out in hours. To commemorate the partnership, ASICS developed a custom box decorated with original drawings by CHITO, replete with mischievous graphics featured in the gallery. In attendance, the artist connected with Hypeart’s community and fans of his work were able to snag autographs before his departure.
Dive into the ASICS x CHITO showcase in the galleries and video above. Visit ASIC’s website to see the latest colorways of the GEL-KINETIC FLUENT™.
