It was his task of adding new life to a run-down basketball court that caught our eye. A basketball court in Punggol was given a fresh coat of blue paint—wavy shapes, some of which are patterned by lines. This was part of Toby Tan’s (or as he’s known by his nome d’arte, Tobyato) final-year project at NTU’s School of Art, Design and Media, called Kejiranan, meaning ‘neighbourhood’ in Malay. Tan wanted to discover the origins behind the names of local neighbourhoods and engage with the residents through basketball court paintings. In Malay, ‘Punggol’ means ‘throwing sticks at fruit trees’, which were represented by the straight lines and the colour and shapes were influenced by Punggol being one of the first waterfront towns back then.
Tan would follow that up with another basketball court in Bishan. And a mural at the skatepark in Somerset. And a collaboration with Levi’s. And another with Uniqlo. And another with Asics. And another…
Add ‘designed NFT sneakers’ to his resume as Esquire roped in Tan as our sneaker NFT project’s first collaborator. We talk to him about venturing into this virtual space, stone lions and why he’s so damn happy all the time.
ESQUIRE: What’s your first awareness of NFTs and how is it beneficial for an artist?
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