But I was really wondering, WHY does Gonz always skate those weird decks? And what are those exactly? customs? Older decks we don't know about? Prototypes? He owns a board company and has legit sponsors and still digs up the weirdest stuff and boards. From longboards to weird shapes. I can't even remember the last time I saw Gonz on a regular board.
Is it for the same reason that Daewon loses his bushings, to create a bigger challenge?
I don't really get it.
Gonz rules though. Let that be clear.
More than anything else, the feeling I got from skating in the eighties was not “progression” or “mastery”, or even “style”. All of them were there, of course. But my main impression of skating (as demonstrated in a lot of street contests) was spontaneity, how you reacted in the moment.
Lance Mountain noted (maybe in a Love Letters) that he never wanted to ‘master’ a trick, that would render the movement stale and uninspired.
I think it is that sense of freshness and looking for something novel, new, and most importantly fun, is what drives Mark to look at new and old shapes, to keep his spirit young and inventive.
I’ve noticed that a lot of people that got into skating after the eighties tens to have a comparatively conservative view about what skating ‘is’, what boards are ‘real skateboards’ and which tricks are ‘legit’.
So I find it interesting that some of the older dudes have some of the most open minds about what skating can be (like Grosso’s famous comment about downhilling).