Nike Dunk Low Pro SB 'Piet Mondrian'
Colorway: Zest/Black · Style code: 304292-702 · Release date: February 2008 · Price: $1000 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Nike SB Dunk Low Supreme Cement (2002) Sneakers (304292-001) · Nike Dunk Pro Low SB 'Gino 2' (304292-002) · Nike Dunk Low Pro Sb 'Ostrich' (304292-003) · Nike Dunk Low Pro SB 'Carhartt' (304292-004) · Medicom Toy x Nike Dunk Low Pro SB 'Medicom 2' (304292-005)
Mondrian did not arrive at the grid quickly. He was born in Amersfoort in 1872, painted representationally for decades, moved to Paris in 1912 and absorbed Cubism, and only began producing grid-based work in late 1919. By 1920 and 1921 the thin grey lines had thickened into black and the rectangles between them had filled with red, blue, yellow or white.
He called the theory Neoplasticism and stated its terms flatly: three primary colours, three neutrals, and two directions (horizontal and vertical, nothing else). The De Stijl group he co-founded with Theo van Doesburg during the First World War built a whole movement on that restriction.
The Dunk is an odd but functional carrier for it, because its upper is already divided into flat panels with hard edges. This version keeps the base white, puts the swoosh in black suede, and fills the toe and heel overlays with red and yellow against a blue heel tab, Mondrian's palette assigned panel by panel. The tongue is stuffed in the manner of Nike SB's gold-box period. It released in February 2008 at $65.