Skateboard graphics have always been a nice way of seeing work by some of the most exciting illustrators and designers before they blow up. The likes of Geoff Mcfetridge, Neckface,  Shepherd Fairey, Mark Gonzales, Stefan Marx and Michael Sieben, as well as Kev Grey, James Jarvis and Adam Neate on these fair shores, can all thank designing board graphics as giving them a big foot-up early on in their illustrious careers.

Mark Gonzales

All these folks can point to spending their teens lurking around in car parks with a board under their feet though, and taking a pen to a deck is a natural progression for kids who’ve grown up drawing and skating.

Neckface

These guys all demonstrate an understanding of what skaters want and need from their graphics – skaters tend to be a forward thinking bunch. It’s something a few non-skaters have tried, and, more often than not, failed to capture when commissioned to create work for board companies. Everyone’s seen cynical cash-in decks aimed at naïve parents in TK Maxx or whatever – and the underneath of these soggy and weak pieces of crap generally reflect their technical strength with a rank graphic.

S.Mark Gubb’s ‘Among the Living’ decks installed at Concrete Hermit

Back in 2007, then Midlands-based artist S. Mark Gubb organised his ‘Among The Living’ tour, where he took 10 prominent UK based artists, designers and illustrators  as well a rabble of some of the countries best skateboarders to a number of skateparks up and down the breadth of this fine nation. Each artist designed a board graphic under Mark’s – himself a skater – direction and the work would be ‘displayed’ in the skateparks, underneath the feet of one of the skaters, rather than on gallery walls. Despite most of the artists not being skaters, the direction and production of the show allowed for work that would reflect the artist’s practice, and be visually appealing to the skaters who were riding/exhibiting them at the demos.

Mark has given a selection of the decks to Concrete Hermit, and we’re excited to be able to have them in our gallery and online. The picture below shows them in the gallery, with the graphics of, from left to right, Craig Fisher, Mark Beasley and Stuart Bailey, Ross Sinclair, Bedwyr Williams and Juneau Projects. It was Mark’s intention that these limited edition works would work well as an artwork to be displayed on the wall at home, or skated by skaters – they’re printed onto the same wood as British board company A Third Foot, and come in 7.5”. 7.75” and 8”.

You can see more work of artists involved in the skate scene in publications like Modart and Juxtapoz, and skate mags like Thrasher regularly feature articles on skate-related artists. The critically acclaimed film ‘Beautiful Losers’, released in 2008, documents the U.S based Beautiful Losers collective, including the likes of Mcfetridge, Fairey, Ed Templeton,  Steven Powers and Barry Mcgee, all of whom have strong ties to the skateboard industry.

Steven Powers