Haider Ali dips his brush in a drop of iridescent paint, then sketches the first patterns on a pair of immaculate white sports shoes, declining in a profusion of colors a new variation of an art typical of Pakistani culture.
Pakistan is renowned for its exuberant “truck art”, which consists of decorating trucks with illustrations in bright and colorful colors, representing animals, deities, floral or religious motifs, adorned with various calligraphy.
This traditional art transforms Pakistani highways and cities into a kaleidoscope of shimmering colors.
Haider Ali, one of the Pakistani virtuosos of “truck art”, has now decided to transpose it on sneakers.
“A client came to see me from the United States, asking me to paint shoes,” he told AFP in his studio in the port city of Karachi (south).
“I gave him an exorbitant price to discourage him, but he said okay. So I decided to do it,” he adds.
It takes him up to four days of meticulous work for shoes painted according to the wishes of customers, handpicked and which must pay 400 dollars (365 euros) per pair.
Since he started this activity in January, he has already produced eight pairs, sold in Pakistan and abroad. And the orders keep coming, under the influence of social networks.
“I keep coming up with new ideas,” says the 42-year-old painter. “It’s human nature to decorate ourselves (the body) and the things around us.”
Cross-legged in his rooftop studio, he swings a pair of high-top Nikes, revealing a sparkling pink falcon above a staring yellow eye, rimmed with hypnotizing rounded edges.
Another pair, ready to ship, features a shimmering toned peacock.
– Creative freedom –
Some consider that “truck art” originated in the 1940s, when truckers began creating flashy logos to advertise brands to a largely illiterate audience.
Others claim that the color escalation began with the efforts of bus drivers to attract new passengers.
Today, “truck art” is one of the most exported aspects of Pakistani culture, contrasting with the country’s rather austere reputation for social conservatism.
Haider Ali himself comes from a family of “truck artists”, who barely earned a living by the side of the roads by decorating trucks.
While strolling through a truck parking area in Karachi’s Yusuf Goth district, his sunglasses and slight chest bulge make him look like a celebrity.
“When I feel connected to my art, I’m intensely focused,” he says. “If I take a break, the ideas stop flowing.”
Haider Ali became known outside his country with an exhibition in 2002 for the Smithsonian museum in Washington, becoming an international ambassador of “truck art”.
He has since applied his art to an airplane, a Volkswagen Beetle and even a woman’s body at a festival in the United States.
His talent guarantees him no longer having to live in the din of the roadsides and complete creative freedom granted by his clients.
But as with the trucks, the decoration will only last on the shoes for a while. After a few years, it will crack and fade, providing a brand new canvas for a new work of art.