disposable: random essays on skateboard art

"public domaine" at la gaité lyrique in paris, france

Public Domaine : Skateboard Culture - Teaser from La Gaîté Lyrique on Vimeo.

In two weeks I'll be heading in a northeasterly direction to Paris, France for the opening of the Public Domaine exhibition at the la Gaité lyrique on Saturday, June 18. A considerable step above and beyond your average SKART show, this is a multi-themed approach to portraying the broader cultural aspects of skateboarding from its music and graphics to film, photography, fashion, futurism and more.

Some of those represented in the varied facets of the sprawling show include: Neck Face, Yogi Proctor, Adam Wallacavage, Donny Miller, Deanna Templeton, Cleon Peterson, Michael Burnett, Mike O'Meally, Fred Mortagne, Benjamin Deberdt, Mark Gonzales, William Strobeck, Matthias Fennataux, Ludovic Azémar, Ty Evans, Don Brown, Claude Jutra, Alyasha Moore, Andy Jenkins, Ben Horton, Ed Templeton, Eli Morgan Gesner, Fos, Marc McKee, Mike Hill, Moish Brenman, Michael Sieben, Todd Francis, Winston Tseng, Johnny "Mojo" Munnerlyn, Colin Price, Eric Anthony, Hershel Baltrotsky, Jeremy Carnahan, Michael Coleman, Andy Jenkins, Christian Morin, Andy Mueller, Evan Hecox, Chris Waycott, ILL Studio, Natas Kaupas, Mike Manzoori, DVNO, Rémi Brun, Sade Coy, Cédric Viollet, Edouard Le Scouarnec, Bryce Kanights, Mofo, Kevin Thatcher, Luke Ogden, Rhino, Patrick O’Dell, Jerry Hsu, David Broach, Gabe Morford, Jon Mehring, Cédric Viollet, Brian Gaberman, Taro Hirano, Sem Rubio, Dan Boulton, Deeli, Eric Antoine, Travis Dove, Rich Gilligan, Bertrand Trichet, Buzzy Sullivan, Sergej Vutuc, Gus Duarte, Giovanni Reda, Davy Van Laere, Atiba Jefferson, Sam Ashley, Lance Mountain and myself.

A number of special events are planned throughout the stay of the Public Domaine exhibition (which runs until Sunday, August 7), from concerts and skate demos to parties and such sponsored by Thrasher Magazine, Etnies, Nike SB, Girl Skateboards and more. I think I may be doing a Disposable book signing somewhere during my week in Paris, but have no details at present. If and when something is arranged though, I'll throw up another post with the whereabouts and whatnot.

For further info: http://www.gaite-lyrique.net

confessions of a teenage video pirate

I've made jokes about my technological incompetence before (although, sadly, they really aren't jokes), but once upon a time I was a pirate force to be reckoned with in electronic waters. Soon after I started skateboarding in the fall of 1986 in the city of Stevens Point*, Wisconsin, I realized that my meager paper route earnings were not going to suffice in funding what undoubtedly was my new purpose in life. Skateboards were not cheap, nor were the countless—and mostly useless—plastic accessories that I was suckered into believing were an absolute necessity. For this I give due credit to the companies for their marketing prowess and savvy (cut me some slack ... I was an impressionable Midwestern kid, no different than those gullible idiots that became America's worst milk chickens in the '90s); however, it did force me to turn to a life of crime at their expense.

I was fortunate to have two VCRs in our family household at the time, the combo of which I learned to hook-up and make duplicate copies of VHS tapes, give or take a generational degeneration. And with winter about to drop its chilling, white blanket of frozen death upon our scant supply of local terrain, the only lifeblood that remained for area shut-in skateboarders were the few skateboard videos that existed in our town at the time. Primarily the Powell-Peralta classics The Bones Brigade Video Show (1984) and Future Primitive (1985). Someone had a copy of Summer Sessions, too, but aside from the T.S.O.L. soundtrack it wasn't exactly what you could call a source of inspiration.

I was already watching these videos three-to-four times a day, so running off copies while doing so was by no means a waste of time. And the guerrilla entrepreneur in me charged a buck per bootlegged copy to local skaters—the grand sum total of which probably afforded me a pair of Powell-Peralta Short Ribs and, quite possibly, a Tracker lapper. Maybe even a "Board to Death" sticker, too. So although the money was ill-gained, it was equally ill-spent and went right back into the industry pot.

Unfortunately this business acumen did not stick with me in life—such is my half-brained lot as an artist—and this new online deal of mine is simply further proof. I suppose I could have sought out some other company to host this. Better yet, maybe even a company that actually paid me to do it. But no: it's simply another extra-curricular "labor of love" that I'm going out of pocket on. Not that I mind, though, because the other day in the mail I received a complimentary copy of The Bones Brigade Video Show Special Edition from Michael Furukawa at Powell (technically, I guess the company is called Skate One now, but old habits die hard).

I'm not sure if I was meant to review this or not, but it does seem like the right thing to do after my former crimes against the company as a profiteering teenager. Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure there is a statute of limitations on that stuff, right? There better be. If not, perhaps this review will wipe the slate clean and we can both call it even, because the last thing I need right now is Interpol knocking down my door on an obsolete video format charge.