Dave White is a familiar name to anyone involved in the British art industry. He’s also a name of legend in the sneaker industry. On the eve of his latest exhibition titled Natural Selection, we sat down with Dave for a chat about Jordans, art and his passion for animals.

Dave White is one of the most refreshingly honest people we have the pleasure of interviewing. We’ve interviewed him before when he launched his Nike Air Stab Neon back in 2010 and I’m sure that this will not be the last time. There’s something very open about a very stylish, tattooed guy with a name in the industry such as Dave’s getting very passionate about endangered animals. You’ll be hard pushed not to notice that throughout the interview.

Natural Selection marks the largest exhibition of Dave White works to date and is a definite marker that this talented British artist is growing. As the conversation unfolded it became clear that not only is Dave’s name and reputation growing, but his style and approach to painting as well. It was truly fascinating to hear about how he works and why his work has moved in this direction.

Obviously, we couldn’t help but start by discussing one of his largest achievements since we last saw him; his own Air Jordan 1. Released in February 2012, the Air Jordan 1 Dave White caused a frenzy in the sneaker community as for the first time, someone had managed to remove the Swoosh off a Jordan 1 and make it to production. This wasn’t the only detail that sent the Jordan fans crazy, and as Dave mentions on the next page … “a lot of purists hated it, a lot of people loved it”.

Words & Photography: Alex Synamatix