Full Deck: A Short History of Skate Art

Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek Ca.

Video and text by Isaac McKay-Randozzi

Photos by Dan Zaslavsky

Art on decks has been around since the late ’70s, capturing the imagination of every young and not-so-young skate rat since, encouraging them to hoard their lunch money, work a crappy afterschool job or do extra chores in order to buy one. How many of us would do nearly anything to get that one board to satisfy the skate lust for seven plys of good times? Some can even remember the lineup of boards they first saw all those years ago. Partially a device of marketing but also the visual representation for pros and professional artists to expand their creativity. A wide variety of these decks, from ‘70s boards with minimal art and classic logos to modern day heat-transfers in all their Technicolor glory, hung on the walls of Walnut Creek’s Bedford Gallery. The assembled collections gave the exhibition depth like no other. Bahne to Birdhouse, Element to SMA , Alva to Hessenmob and many others both small and large were displayed with care and thought. Individual artists were given sections and the larger spaces in the gallery were occupied by the private collections of many skaters and artists, including several SLAP staffers.
The bulks of the attendees were under 25 and soaked up the old-timey goodness that was in use when they were still womb wet behind the ears, and some of us geezers remember fondly. The complimentary keg was gone in an hour and the seemingly endless trays of snacks with meat, cheese and crackers was exhausted an hour after that. Some of the local artists were on hand to talk and meet folks, and a contingent of SF people made it out to see the wonderful job the gallery did in the presentation. Sean Cliver was also on hand signing copies of his new Disposable Bible book of skate art. One bit of irony was the prohibition of bringing skateboards inside the gallery. It is quite the display- if you can I highly suggest you get your ass down to the gallery before the show comes down on Sept. 13th.










Sean Cliver signing copies of his new book.