True Red2015
3:45 min
Hand-drawn digital animation, color, sound
In 2003, Nike released a sneaker called "True Red,” which was marketed as the vampire sneaker. By turning True Red into the protagonist of an animation, Dean explores the capacity for objects to seemingly acquire a life of their own. The sneaker morphs into various forms – a bat, a castle, an oozing red substance—over the course of approximately three minutes. The medium of animation was first popularized in the early twentieth century and was adopted by both avantgarde artists seeking progressive social change, and by private companies seeking to better market their products and grant inanimate commodities “life”. The animation speaks to the imagination and potential where the boundaries between objects break down as they merge and shapeshift together to become something else.
Nail test, True Red
Video still, True Red
Video still, True Red