Press Release: Overboard by Andy Yoder in the Mobile Art Gallery
CulturalDC Spring Exhibit Is Inspired by the 1990 Nike Shoe Spill and Sneaker Culture
Andy Yoder’s “Overboard” Will Be Installed Inside a Shipping Container
To arrange an interview with artist Andy Yoder and CulturalDC Executive Director Kristi Maiselman, contact
Janice L. Kaplan, JaniceLKaplan@JaniceLKaplan.com or 202-277-5461
Washington, DC – The infamous story of shipping containers filled with tens of thousands of Nike sneakers that spilled into the Pacific Ocean is the inspiration for “Overboard,” a new CulturalDC exhibition by Washington-based artist Andy Yoder. The exhibition, which will take place inside a 40-foot shipping container transformed into a mobile art gallery, references what has become known as “The Great Shoe Spill of 1990” as well as contemporary sneaker culture. It will be on view beginning April 4 near the D.C. waterfront. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
“’Overboard’ will appeal to everyone from art lovers to sneakerheads to those who are simply drawn to Andy’s colorful artwork,” said Executive Director Kristi Masiselman. “The installation also will interest those who are concerned about the harm we are doing to our natural resources – which should be all of us. I can’t think of a better time to launch this exhibition than the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.”
“My goal was to make something as unconventional, creative and lively as using a repurposed shipping container as a mobile exhibition space,” said Yoder. He hopes the installation will bring attention to the impact of consumerism on our planet. “I think of this as a story of second chances,” Andy said. “The sneakers go from hurting the ocean to helping it; a surplus shipping container gets a second life as an art gallery and castoff boxes, cartons and bags go from the recycling bin to life as high-end sneakers in an art gallery. The ripple event from the 1990 spill is still happening.”
“The Great Shoe Spill”
In 1990, five shipping containers washed off the freighter Hansa Carrier during a tropical storm, dumping 80,000 Nike sneakers into the ocean. As they washed ashore along the Oregon and Washington coasts, an extensive network of beachcombers collected, washed and resold the shoes. Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a leading authority on flotsam, began collecting data about the shoes, which ultimately led to an important study of the ocean’s currents. Nike embraced Ebbesmeyer’s work, nicknaming him “Doctor Ocean.”
Soon after being invited to create a site-specific work in CulturalDC’s shipping container mobile art gallery (which previously housed “The Barbershop Project”), Yoder came across the story of the Hansa Carrier. “Tens of thousands of beached sneakers? That was too good to pass up,” said the artist.
“Overboard”
Yoder says the installation “will not only be immersive, but excessive – to match the event that inspired it.” The exhibition will include:
A wall of shoes resembling a store display and featuring hundreds of sneakers made out of materials reclaimed from recycling bins. These include cereal boxes, Bruce Lee posters, Hermès shopping bags, a blue Tiffany’s box, a reproduction of John James Audubon's famous flamingo and a print of Hokusai’s “The Great Wave.” Using Nike’s Air Jordan 5 shoe as his model, Andy hot glues the shoes together using 25 individual components. Each shoe takes three to six hours to create and will be displayed against a mural of ocean waves.
Two 40-foot floor-to-ceiling digital photo murals; one depicts ocean waves while the other shows stacks of shipping containers.
“Floating” collages, made of scraps of paper left over from making the shoes, that resemble the floating islands of plastic in the ocean.
About Andy Yoder
The focus of Yoder’s art is on using everyday objects and materials – from artificial flowers to crocheted yarn – in unexpected ways. For instance, his seven-foot long “Licorice Shoes” – made from actual black licorice – was inspired by childhood memories of the wingtip oxfords his father wore to the office and the crock of licorice his grandmother kept in her kitchen.
A native of Cleveland and graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, Yoder also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. His work is in numerous public and private collections and has been featured in exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Queens Museum of Art, Winkleman Gallery in New York and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Commissions include works for ESPN, Continental Airlines, Progressive Insurance, David and Susan Rockefeller and the Saatchi Collection. After living in New York and Vermont, he moved to the Washington region nine years ago and, last summer, moved his studio to Stable, the new artist space in Northeast Washington.
About CulturalDC
CulturalDC sees the arts as a driving force in building sustainable communities by providing a wide range of programs and services that support artists’ ability to live and work in the DMV and by giving audiences access to affordable and accessible cutting-edge visual and performing art. Since 1998, CulturalDC has brokered more than 300,000 square feet of artist space, including the Arts Walk at Monroe Street Market, Atlas Performing Arts Center, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Source Theatre and Woolly Mammoth Theatre. In addition to providing space, we facilitate opportunities for and present innovative visual, performing and multidisciplinary artists.
Now in its third season, CulturalDC’s Mobile Arts Program challenges the limitations of traditional art spaces by bringing relevant, accessible art directly to local audiences. Under the umbrella theme of Ex(Change), the current season features artists who are actively redefining personal and socio-political narratives through a cross-cultural lens. The Mobile Art Gallery is the District’s first moveable art space and has a commitment to use art as a catalyst to build community. Visit www.culturaldc.org; Facebook: CulturalDC; Instagram: @cultural_dc; or Twitter: Cultural_DC.
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