It's amazing what a little rubber/plastic compound can do. Back in the mid-seventies, when urethane skateboard wheels were introduced, I'm sure manufacturers like GT had no idea how they would eventually affect an entire generation and their children, eventually creating a billion dollar industry with it's very own culture. I like to think of it as a "mainstream subculture".
Back in oh, around 1977, I discovered "Skateboarder Magazine", which was chock full of pictures of these badass surf punks skateboarding in swimming pools. Guys like Tony Alva, Jay Adams, Stacey Peralta. Part of what really pulled me in were the shots of these guys coming up and out of the pool with the bottom of their boards exposed to show some magnificent accidental art. There were collages of stickers that had been worn away from the abuse these guys dished out during hundreds of hours of skating. The coolest boards were the "Dogtown" skateboards. The art was a mix of tattoo art, graffitti, and vaguely stained glass. It looked very iconic, especially with my "heroes" faces just above the art in the shot. I remember trying to get my boards to look similarly "perfect". I'd never get it though, because the final touch was to have a true hardened surf punk riding the board. I was simply a happy suburban white boy.
These skateboards had a huge impact on my art, and even my overall aesthetic. I've spent years trying to get the feeling from my art that I had when I'd turn the magazine's page and see another fantastic skateboard bottom.
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