For the latest instalment of Smooth Talks, painter and writer Rithika Pandey envisions alternate realities where quotidian things take on a new lease of life. 

The EB x Rithika Pandey collab plays out in nine vignettes of her protagonist in dialogue with shoes that have pierced general consciousness. A site-specific installation of paintings created to live at the EB flagship (and online), the art aims to redirect the gaze in buying for wear to buying for the senses.

Transportive and drenched in technicolour detail, the paintings take sneakers with wear-everywhere appeal to new and exciting places. The EB x Adidas ‘City of God’ Sambas sprout eyes, and the Puma Speedcat goes on an animal adventure in this phantasmagoric collection of paintings ranging in size from 8 x 8 inches to 14 x 18 inches.

The works are on display + purchase in-store until May 3. And if you can’t make it in, find them here. Each painting comes with a certificate of authenticity from the painter.