Satan shoes, microscopic bags and big red boots: How MSCHF conquered the art world

The enigmatic artists took on “modern internet capitalism” and made millions. Now, a new book provides a behind-the-scenes look at how they did it.

MSCHF has been called many things — performers, designers, even internet trolls — but for co-chief creative officer Kevin Wiesner, the title “artists” works just fine. It’s an ambiguous enough term to cover all the hats its members wear, he told CNN over a Zoom call. Besides, Wiesner added: “Nobody really knows what that means” — which aligns with the art collective’s typically elusive nature. Since its founding in 2016, the 25-member Brooklyn-based group has made headlines with provocative “drops,” like the cartoonish big red boots inspired by the Japanese manga character Astro Boy; the infamous “Satan Shoes,” containing a drop of human blood; and a microscopic Louis Vuitton-style bag, barely visible to the human eye, that sold for over $63,000. In the past, MSCHF would take a back seat after releasing its creations, preferring to watch the internet and media attempt to make sense of them with little or no information. “We were trying to maintain a black box as much as possible,” Wiesner explained. “We were really avoiding any kind of personal outward association with the group in a lot of ways, because we had this idea that we wanted these projects to show up from nothing — to seem like they just sprung, fully formed, from the head of Zeus.” Lukas Bentel, MSCHF’s other co-chief creative officer, agreed, telling CNN that “a lot of the projects are us setting up a scenario, and then we’re kind of watching (it) play out from everybody that’s interacting with it.” He added: “We really don’t give any behind-the-scenes look at any of the projects.” That’s about to change with the group’s first book “Made by MSCHF,” which offers a rare glimpse into some of the most successful drops of the past nine years. The book also addresses the highs and lows of being art-world outsiders and MSCHF’s approach to both leveraging and satirizing what it dubs “modern internet capitalism” — in other words, the internet’s role in consumerism.