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Skate It or Hang It?! The Evolution of Skateboard Art

Intro

Saturday

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And the tour continues...

Meeting Sean Cliver in person finally was great! Sean and I have talked since AOS began, even sending each other Christmas cards each year, but we never met each other till now. Crazy huh? Such is life on the interwebz. (haha). He and I hit it off immediately and were like long lost friends picking right back up. I got to meet his wife and son who were along on the trip as well. Great family! I had always heard that Sean was a bit shy and maybe even introverted, but I found him very open and approachable...not only with me, but with anyone that came up to meet, talk and "fan out" with him.

Also, seeing and talking with Andy Howell again was really cool. Back in the late 80's/early 90's, we use to make road trips all the time to come skate in and around Atlanta. I skated with Andy quite a bit during those days when he was living and going to art school in Atlanta. He and I caught up and reminisced about sessions at Skate Zone, street skating around Bell Banks, graffiti at the 40 Wall, and old friends (Stormy, Old Man Rob, Don Hillsman, Fred Reeves, and more). Of course, I had to show him a photo of my mint "8 Ball Kid" deck. He said he only had maybe 2 of that deck still for himself and knew of 1-2 others. Stoked! We talked a bit about what he has been up too, travelling, family and what not, but there were people waiting to talk to him. I told him we would be in touch (I have old video and graff flicks to get to him), and said good-bye.

Another great artist,Michael Sieben, in the show!

love this stuff...Michael Sieben's work

Michael Sieben's line work

local artist

One of my favorite all time skaters and artists ...and a friend as well ...Andy Howell. We used to skate together from time to time back in Atlanta.

Some of Andy Howell's artwork

Andy and a young fan

Andy Howell ...love his style!

Andy Howell piece ....this is incredible in person ...sooo many layers that it looks 3-D ...no idea HOW he did it.

Olson section

Jay checking out the Olson section

Steve Olson artwork....clever. He said "the bitches love it" hahahahahaha

Good friend and LEGENDARY skate artist.....Sean Cliver

haha...that silly Sean Cliver....clever Halloween piece

Sean Cliver art (I have that top deck at home...the babies....he did a limited set and gave them to friends at Christmas a few years back)

newer Sean Cliver art using the well known Ray Barbee "Rag Doll" character....this was about 6ft tall...wish I had this in my house!

Cliver interview

a Cliver deck you will NEVER find....done for company to give as Christmas gifts to employees

Legendary pro skater and artist...Lance Mountain

classic Lance imagery

another view of Lance's work

Now...not to be too negative, but I will voice what many others said as well. For such a large show so well promoted, I was actually surprised that a lot (majority?) of the decks shown were more recent reissues of older models. I would think it would have been easy for them to locate collectors to show the originals. On the other hand, I can understand that for the larger crowd (those not so into collecting and maybe not even that into skateboarding as much as the art of it) they probably had no idea nor care for what they might be "missing" in seeing the originals. In the end, original or reissue, I think the message/art still gets conveyed. But at the same time, paying that much to get into the show, many people did expect to see the originals for that price. As one person said, it felt like going to the Louvre in Paris to see the Mona Lisa and finding a computer print copy of it hanging on the wall.