Painting On Decks vs. Fine Art

by The Editors on February 26, 2010

Wall Street Journal writer Conor Dougherty’s latest skateboard story for the business paper of record surveys the world of painting on skateboard decks and asks the age old question: yeah, but is is “wheelie” art? Get it? We are reminded of the old definition of art we learned our first day in art history class: art is what artists do.

As long as there have been skateboards, there have been pictures on them. The early boards in the 1960s tended to have child-friendly graphics such as images of surfers or baseball stars. Artistic styles shifted with the evolution of the skateboarding subculture, moving into images depicting everything from skulls and cartoon cigarettes to children finding their parents having intimate relations. Like skateboarders, the artwork they favor often exudes youthful protest and subversive themes.

We guess the bigger question is this: if an artist who doesn’t skateboard paints on a skateboard deck is it skate art? Our answer is no. Now were are those Jeffery Koons Supreme decks was saw lying around some where. . . ?

[Link: The Wall Street Journal]

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