A new exhibition titled Skateboard at the London Design Museum investigates the roll skateboarding has played in the world of youth culture, fashion design, and sports in general. Currated by Jonathan Olivares, the show is sponsored by Converse and will feature a book by Phaidon (Paul ‘The Professor’ Schmitt wrote the intro).
Skateboard examines the fundamentality of its namesake device. The show is an object study at its core; it tracks the backstory of the board across generations’ worth of iterations (one 2000’s deck features baroque squiggles called “money shapes” on its edge, for instance). Yet it also provides a crisp, clear flow of the world-building that has occurred around the apparatus. . . Over 100 chronologically advancing decks, their widely varied graphics, images sourced from over 40 photographers in multiple decades, and spin-off ephemera (such as zines and decals) illustrate this rise of skateboarding not only as an athletic discipline but also as an aspirational lifestyle. A 1960s-era Life cover, for example, shows a woman in neat white trousers riding against a big blue sky–while doing a handstand on her board, no less.
For more info on the show which opens October 20, 2023 (and how to visit if you’re in London town) please click the link.
Shaun White’s ascent from snowboarder to cultural zeitgeist is perfectly represented in his new book from Rizzoli titled Airborne. See photos from when he was just a SoCal kid who loved skateboarding and snowboarding. Watch as the fame machine grabs hold of him and sends him into the orbit of rockstars, fashionistas, and Hollywood girlfriends. Here’s how Rizzoli sets the scene:
Some of the world’s best action-sports photographers capture White performing his extreme snowboarding and skating tricks around the world–from his groundbreaking aerial maneuvers such as his Double McTwist 1260 on Olympic half pipes, to his radical skating tricks such as his Frontside 540 Sky Hook at the X Games. White exceeded the imaginable limits of snowboarding and raised the bar for other snowboarding competitors to try to keep up with him. Narrated by White with detailed commentary throughout, this book is an autobiography in images and an intimate glimpse into the life of a celebrity athlete: training, competing, on the road and in the spotlight.
It’s obviously another Shaun White celebrity product, but if you’re a fan then this is the book for you. Click here to buy it.
Legendary skate and music photographer Glen E. Friedman has a new collection of images coming out in book form from Akashic books on October 3, 2023 titled: Just a Minor Threat.
JUST A MINOR THREAT is a book of Glen E. Friedman’s most outstanding photographs of the Washington, DC, band Minor Threat, one of the most influential hardcore punk bands in music history. While the book offers Friedman’s best-known photographs of the band, most of the pictures in this volume, shot in 1982 and ’83, have never been seen before. . . The book has writing by Jello Biafra, Alec MacKaye, Guy Picciotto, Zack de la Rocha, Jamie Shanahan, and Ian F. Svenonius. Friedman’s own introduction explains how he initially met the band, and the lifelong friendships that grew from there.
If you are a fan of Minor Threat or just someone who collects rock photo books, click here to buy one and get all the info.
A great snowboarder who became the darling of the art world. How did Trevor Andrew do it? If you’ve always wanted to know the story behind Gucci Ghost, he explains it right here in an interview with Art Plugged.
With skateboarding and snowboarding, my mom worked at the little local ski hill in Nova Scotia, and I went there every day after school and then started competing, and those older guys started bringing me around to contest. Then I left home at like 15, dropped out of school and just went for it. I was committed to making it work. There was no plan B.
Apparently, he has applied the same all-in method to music and art. Click the link for the entire interview.
Rad sock makers Merge4 announce a new partnership with skateboarder Minna Stess.
The MERGE4 x Minna Stess collaboration will showcase art by Kayla Caballero, skateboard legend Steve Caballero’s daughter, designed exclusively for her. The design will feature bats and donuts on MERGE4’s performance socks. “I have always loved my MERGE4 fam, and they have always been so supportive of me since I was a little SF Bay Area skater. Having my own sock means a lot to me and I’m super stoked on it!“ Said Minna Stess.
For a better look at the new socks, plus all the others, please click the link. Or follow the jump for the official word.
From the “whatever are they up to now” files comes this story of former pro skateboarder, artist, New Deal co-founder Andy Howell, his return to the Outer Banks in 2021, and the startup of his skateboarding x fishing brand Ghost Ship, from the pages of The Outer Banks Voice.
“Point blank, my best childhood memories are from here,” Howell told the Voice. “My dad taught me to fish the surf here, and I caught my first fish off the beach in Kitty Hawk. First time I ever stood up on a surfboard was in Kitty Hawk. My first surfboard was a Lightning Bolt from Secret Spot. The first skate park I ever skated as a kid in the late 70’s was Barney’s Concrete Curl. Those moments are so core to who I am.”
Ghost Ship is a “lifestyle brand specializing in skateboards, surfboards, fishing rods, apparel, and accessories that represent Outer Banks history and culture.” Click the link for all the details.
Skateboarder and artist Ed Templeton has a new career encompassing show (and book) featured in the Bonnefanten Museum in the Netherlands this summer. Fans of his work will not want to miss it.
Skateboarding, as seen through Ed Templeton’s photographs, has a life beyond the ramps. Yes, his high-impact images convey the spirit and kineticism of the sport, but so too has the photographer trained his lens on skateboarders behind the scenes and during their off-hours to preserve often raw and intimate moments. . . . “It’s essentially a lifetime of work,” he added of Wires Crossed. “I’ve done a lot of other books before this one with my photography, but this is what started it all for me—what made me want to get into photography in the first place.”
The Wires Crossed show runs in the Bonnefanten Museum, Avenue Ceramique 250, Maastricht, Netherlands, through September 17, 2023. Probably worth a trip just to see it.
The US Postal Service is dropping in on Cowtown’s 21st Annual Phoenix Am Contest on Friday, March 24, 2023 to kick off the launch of their new Art of The Skateboard stamp series.
Fiercely independent and often rebellious, the skateboarding subculture crackles with raw creative energy. The bold artwork emblazoned on a skateboard deck is often as eye-catching and individualistic as a skater’s most breathtaking moves.
The stamps feature art by Crystal Worl, William James Taylor Jr, Federico “MasPaz” Frum, and Di’Orr Greenwood. For all the details (including special info for all you philatelists), please follow the jump.
Snowboarder Nic Sauve and his ER doc wife, Geneviève Gaumond, have built a stylish little mountain get away in the hills on Mont Tourbillon near Lac-Beauport, Quebec, according to a story in Maclean’s.
Inspired by their mutual love of Québécois architect Pierre Thibault, Sauve and Gaumond envisioned a tiny two-floor retreat that used only three materials—bleached wood, grey aluminum and white tile—to minimize visual noise. The build cost roughly $400,000. “We wanted the design, textures and colours of the chalet to be linear, sober and clean, so the house kind of fades away and lets you connect with the surrounding nature,” says Sauve.
The cabin is currently being rented out on AirBnB so if you’re in the area maybe you can stay there. . . or in one of the Sauve’s two other modern masterpieces. All the info is right here: chaletsmicroelement.com.
Shaun White’s ascent from snowboarder to cultural zeitgeist is perfectly represented in his new book from Rizzoli titled 
