Separation from Art

For last summer vacation I visited Japan. The most interesting items that actually made me open my wallet were the limited editions. I knew this young artist, Michael Lau with his special editions in Nike shoes. There were already those kinds of shoes called, ‘Dunk’ but this artist from Hong Kong, designed same kind but ‘different’ shoes. Michael Lau has connected his art to products that people can wear. This shoes that Michael Lau designed has been reached two thousand dollars on auctions. They were so limited in stock; they were numbered and gave the buyers the feeling of chosen ownership. Of course they are not affordable for most of people and I don’t believe there are many people who would want to buy a pair of shoes with two thousand dollars. Who are the target users? And who benefits for having those shoes out in the market?
In 3rd world country there are people who can’t afford to buy a pair of shoes worth ten dollars. They don’t even have the luxury to own one. Are those shoes necessary in the world? I do not know, but my personal opinion was not so sympathetic. I am a very huge fan of ‘shoes.’ I love to own them and I also love to just see them online. There are even bigger fans than I am, they own the most expensive pairs of sneakers; they wrap the shoes and keep them in the boxes. Sometimes those fans will take shoes out and take photos, but other than that the shoes will be kept in the boxes under wraps. People like us think that Michael Lau has brought the whole level of ‘Dunk’ and became revolutionary on Nike shoes market. But I became curious again. Would the shoes that Michael Lau designed have been still revolutionary if they didn’t cost so much and not limited? It was different in material, in pattern, in color even the boxes that covered the shoes was different, but they weren’t made out of gold and diamonds.
These shoes had art in design, but these were still categorized as “Dunk.” People look at these shoes and get shocked at the new design and they scream after looking at the price tag. The design with artist’s art in it is excellent but small piece of paper, the price tag has separated the item from people. My last question is will they be still excellent when no one is looking at it?