The way Futura sees it, the art of collaboration is a lot like the game of basketball. “The more you work together as a team, the easier it is to stack some Ws,” the New York graffiti legend tells GQ. Throughout his decades-spanning career, Futura has been responsible for plenty of Ws—including a handful of the rarest, most valuable sneakers on the planet.
Take, for example, the Nike Dunks he designed in collaboration with the late Virgil Abloh. Originally released as a friends-and-family exclusive in 2019, eight pairs of the sneakers were auctioned off by Sotheby’s this past April to benefit The Virgil Abloh Foundation, the Art for Justice Fund, the Boys & Girls Club of America, and the Innocence Project. Collectively, the shoes sold for over half a million dollars, with a single pair fetching a jaw-dropping $107,950.
Futura finds those numbers shocking, but prefers to focus more on his next big creation. “I like to be more connected to the making of the thing,” he says. “I never wanted to be like the old retired sports star sitting at a table signing autographs for whatever amount of money. That was always quite sad to me.”
The artist’s latest project is an exclusive piece for the 2023 NBA Champions: a mural composed of 60 individually spray-painted Michelob Ultra beer bottles. Every player and coach on the winning team will receive a bottle, bringing Futura's lifelong hoops obsession and life's work together at last. “Writing your name on a wall is the very essence of expressing yourself,” Futura says, “and I think going from writing my name on the wall to creating NBA Championship bottles is a cool transition.”
GQ: How is this project different from other art pieces that you’ve worked on?
Futura: This is the first time I’ve done something as elevated or prestigious for someone like the NBA champions. It’s quite amazing because I’m a huge sports guy. Obviously I’m from New York, and my guys aren’t in it anymore, thanks to Miami.
Not a bad playoff run for the Knicks, though.
I remember the last time the Knicks won the championship 50 years ago. I was like 17 years old and sadly we haven’t been back. The same could be said for other New York sports teams. But I say all of that to show how much of a sports guy I am—this is a huge deal for me.
Can you walk me through the creative process of how you approach something like this, knowing that it’s going to be for the NBA Champions?
It’s the first time I’ve done limited bottles, so Michelob dreamed up this scheme where I could physically not just design the labels, but actually paint on them. They set up a 60-bottle mural contained in a fabricated case so I could do my artwork on them.
The whole setup was unique and at the end of the Finals, each of the players and coaches from the winning team will receive one of them. So if you look at each individual bottle, it’s one element of an entire piece. There’s the conceptual piece of the larger painting, then the puzzle pieces that have been removed as the individual bottles.
I’m not Bob Ross, but the piece is about the joy of winning. Similar to how the joy of art exists when you’re creating it, it certainly exists in sport.
It’s kind of like when a team moves into a new stadium and they auction off the pieces of the old one as memorabilia?
Yea, but I think I’d rather have one of these bottles than a chair from an old arena. For me as a creative individual doing graphics, painting, 3D printing, whatever the case may be, I just like doing new and interesting things and this one is very unique for me.
When you work on something that’s super-limited or only going to family and friends, does the thought ever cross your mind of how much it might resell for? Or do you hope that whoever gets it holds on to it?
To me, that’s a morality play. They have to decide within themselves. It’s not uncommon to see things that I’ve touched go to resale in some capacity. Years ago in my career, I’d be more than happy to sign anything and everything obligingly—only to find out in the last decade that people leveraged those things for financial gain.
What you were saying about the possibility of something becoming really valuable is true, but I don’t really think about it. I just think about the gift of giving and collaboration. It’s wonderful that the recipient has it and whatever they choose to do with that thing is certainly their own choice. We’re not running security checks. Let people live and do what they want.
One pair of your Nike Dunk collabs with Virgil Abloh sold at Sotheby’s for over $100,000. Did you ever foresee that happening when you were working on those shoes?
That’s incredible because it’s a fantastic charitable moment in terms of myself and the Abloh Foundation. In this case, we were raising money for this amazing individual and for charity. But overall, sneakers are a huge industry and kids are either very passionate about how they approach it or it’s just people trying to make money in that realm.
I’m not against reselling, it’s just that I don’t participate in any of that marketplace in any way. That value is a little bit nuts. I don’t understand how the numbers are that high.
Where would you rank that shoe in terms of sneaker projects that you’ve worked on?
Undoubtedly the value gets it status in the top five of shoes I’ve done. I don’t really keep score in that department.
As a participant, the Paris Dunk is my all-time favorite shoe. If you know what it is, then you know what I’m talking about. I can’t include any of my shoes in that discussion. I’ll leave myself out of that, but I know I’ve had a presence in that industry and I’m so grateful. It’s been over 20 years now since my arrival in that world.
That’s very modest of you. There are only eight pairs of that Futura x Off-White Nike Dunk in existence, so most people won’t get to see it in full detail or hold it in their hands. Is there anything about that project that people don’t know about?
It’s mostly Virgil’s touch. It’s how he reinvented that particular model. In essence, it’s just my creative addition in terms of placement of my work on various panels of the shoe.
It was awesome, and I’d been working with Virgil on other stuff, but to do a shoe with him in 2019 and see it come out after everything that’s occurred, and to raise that amount of money for charity is incredible. And the legacy will be as such.
For the sneaker community, it’s somewhat of a legacy to the body of work and history of Virgil Abloh.
What was Virgil like as a collaborator?
He was obviously some kind of genius with his ability to orchestrate all of the projects he was working on. But he was also so kind, caring, and thoughtful. He took the time out to talk in places where you never really knew what time zone he was in or where in the world he might be. And he was so attentive.
I try to keep a low profile and I only beam in when there’s something to be said or deadlines need to be met to some degree, but he was always on. I miss him. He was a great friend and I got to know him for 10 years.
In that decade we had wonderful conversations. That’s the thing we were really into—-just talking about the culture and sports. Sports are wonderful because it connects the many dots of many cultures and transcends everything: global identity, age, nationality, and all of that stuff.
You came up with the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Is Virgil on the Mount Rushmore of artists you’ve come to admire?
Without question. Making lists and stuff like that is hard, but I think it’s more of looking at the place where you are at a point in your career.
I grew up in New York City. First I started with my block. Then my neighborhood. Then I perceived I could be someone in my own borough. Then I wanted to be someone in my entire city. For me, the world just kept getting bigger and bigger.
We live on a larger globe and different artists mean different things to different people. Jean, Keith, Andy [Warhol], Dondi, Rammellzee, Phase 2, Stay High… I could name many people who are no longer here sadly. But those have been my angels and individuals I’ve been so fortunate to know in life, shared real experience with, and made memories that’ll never leave me. I’m keeping it going for them too and we’re standing on each other's shoulders.
What’s the key to a good collaboration?
Everything is building relationships, right? Collaborations are a team effort, no pun intended. I like being a team player and that’s the beauty of sports. The more you work together as a team, the easier it is to stack some Ws. If there’s egos and in-fighting, you’re probably not going to win as much in the long term.
As much as I’m really good and I can go rogue and do my own thing, but I like doing things that let me show my love of the culture. I’m also a fan and a consumer. So I’m on both sides of it and I can look at how young people feel sometimes. That gives me a lot of joy, too.
