Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/02/12/katy-perrys-blackface-shoes.html
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setting aside the blackface imagery and obvious issues with that for just a moment…
that design is fucking grotesque and horrid to begin with!!! Who the ever living fuck thought “I know, lets put a Picasso-esque facial form onto a pair of shoes!!!”!!!
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This bullshit is getting ridiculous.
And even if the base color choice wasn’t black, those things would still be ugly as all hell.
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2019’s big fashion trend 
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The fact that they were sold in different base colors may give them plausible deniability for the “blackface” part but they are still U-G-L-Y (and for that there is no alibi).
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If it really doesn’t represent blackface its still a really shitty design for a shoe and i have no clue who in their right mind would buy a pair.
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Katy Perry designs shoes now?
So if it isn’t blackface, it’s still continuing the tradition of European and American “modern art” appropriating African art for profit.
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Nope; she just licenses her name.
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Wait a sec…you think Pablo Picasso was appropriating African style and culture for profit?
Comparing Picasso’s career influences, motifs, and periods to a Katy Perry branded over priced designer shoe in 2019 is just flat out wrong on so many levels.
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I don’t know if they think that but I sure do at least to some degree. Picasso was a savvy businessperson and self-promoter. He was also no saint and neither was European culture in general. African art was openly considered “primitive” and “savage” at the time and was being used solely for decorative/stylistic purposes to shock or challenge the viewer. Maybe it’s not so obvious as with some one like Gauguin and Colonialism, but it falls at least into that nebulous influence vs. appropriation area… with the usual power disparity and lack of interest in the culture of origin.
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It is modern art so you don’t have to use quotes. It is a face on shoes. Nothing to do with African art.
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I don’t disagree with some of that, but Picasso was transient artist who dabbled in many styles and allowed himself to be immersed in those influences completely. As a result he had clear periods of very specific culturally influenced art. I do not in any way believe that was done for profit or exploit but for artistic exploration and growth.
Mind you he has never been one of my favorite artists in history (I’m a fan of impressionism); but I don’t recall ever being taught or coming across that viewpoint of Picasso. Maybe things have changed since my college days in the 90’s and all.
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That is not a face. It is over exaggerated cartoonish lips and tongue.
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Ten years later the discourse looked more like this:
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Dedicated to Reagan, but they probably wouldn’t like Katy Perry’s shoes either.
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