"The Further We Stray" (2025)
Hand-painted VANS® Authentic Leather by Stiles Be

Limited to 3 pairs – US Men’s 10, 11, 12

The Further We Stray is a limited series of hand-painted leather sneakers that explores the fragility of order and the poetry of wear. Conceptualized and executed by artist Stiles Be, this work sits at the intersection of contemporary art and utilitarian design — part painting, part performance, part provocation.

At its core, this project considers what happens when control gives way to entropy — when objects crafted with intention are let loose into the world. The title speaks to a belief that authenticity, character, and meaning often surface not in what is preserved, but in what is tested. As we stray from structure, we invite transformation.

Each pair begins as a blank slate: a clean white leather Vans® Authentic. Through a process of expressive layering — using Angelus leather paints, MTN spray paint, and Sakura solidified paint marker — the surface is treated as a canvas for spontaneous gesture and meditative mark-making. The resulting composition is raw, intuitive, and unrepeatable.

But these aren’t artifacts for display. They’re made to move. To be worn. To be scraped, bent, dragged through streets and skated hard. Over time, each pair develops a patina — an evolving topography of experience that documents the relationship between artist, object, and wearer. No longer static, the artwork lives in flux — shaped as much by the passage of time as by the person wearing it.

This is not fashion. It’s not merchandise.
This is wearable sculpture.
It is process art in motion — alive in every crease, stain, and fade.

Only three pairs exist in the world.

Once worn, they will never exist in the same form again.