100% Agree that polar is getting a little bit boring, but for me, Polar is amazing because they're the easiest way to find a Generator board in almost every size everywhere.
i don't think it's really a matter of polar 'getting boring', just a matter of people getting used to - and eventually tired of - certain given styles of output. can you remember any company or even skater (besides #fredgall) slap used to utterly lose their minds over (in a good way), say, five years ago, that is still unanimously put on just as much of an e-pedestal nowadays ? all of the old universal palace praise - done. most of the magenta / leo valls / jimmy lannon craze - gone (and people are actually starting to talk shit on ben gore too). mindless vx footage worship - for the most part done. and now people are starting to say polar and passport are getting stale, but really they've only been sticking to their most essential formula (rightfully so ?), whereas people just consume art nowadays like they're scrolling through a news feed - wait... they're actually mostly looking at art through their news feed. seeing more board graphics in one day they will ever ride in their whole life.
of course everything is going to start feeling repetitive after a while but i don't think you can really blame it on the work of the content creators / film makers / skaters / graphic artists etc. if anything, given the modern context of effervescent imagery consumption and the constantly accelerated pace of our ever-going quest for 'that new new' (which really is what defines 'fresh' and 'stale' ; as basic consumers, we're always in the demand of something 'new' as to better fill in the blank of a need we didn't even realize existed before it was pointed out to us), companies now have two choices : either enter the race and compete for attention against everybody else playing the game of consistently putting out stuff at the most instantaneous rhythm possible (companies releasing 5 web clips per year, 1 full-length every two years and 4 seasons of 10 to 15 boards + accessories and clothing per year etc...). those really aim at continually renewing themselves and adapting to the market, all the while making sure their following never loses track of their presence which to me seems, in all honestly, challenging as fuck ; magenta, polar, to a lesser extent passport and isle... the ever-so-present risk being, eventually showing too much of the same, or even too much in general. people don't like feeling bombarded with what essentially remains mercantilism (although relative to a field or an enterprise they might relate to in the first place), it essentially makes them feel like they're trying to be taken advantage of or about to get fucked over, thereby resulting in them promptly moving on to wherever the grass appears to be greener (until the same process repeats again, etc.).
and on the other side you have those companies who don't jump into the race and instead keep most everything on the low, evolving at a more normal pace and still managing to cultivate a consistency in terms of imagery as well as putting out new stuff that actually feels just so much fresher everytime specifically thanks to said approach : traffic, hopps, western edition... thing is those companies may in return appeal to a (albeit more sincere and loyal) lesser audience of consistent, core supporters, rather than pretty much making bank off whatever the trend appears to be at the moment.
then again it's a complex issue because in this day and age certain of the most effervescent companies are really good at actually dictating said trends (as opposed to just following them...). for instance, historically magenta has been pioneering (and ironically enough, been less financially successful at) a lot of stuff that has since gone deep (or become staples, even) in skateboarding - mainstream street / city skating resurgence around the time the berrics were the most popular thing, powerslides / body varials, vx resurgence back when everyone else was trying to find their way around hd, apparent wood on certain bottom plies as part of board graphics, minimalism / retro vibe when every big brand was going for cartoonish deck art etc... i guess it's pretty hard to stay at the top of the game for 10 years, especially when you already know everybody's going to be not just biting but straight up feasting off your shit, consuming your identity.
super long post again, whatever. congratulations if you made it this far.
polar will always be cool to everyone who likes it for the right reasons i guess. ie. being a longtime pontus fan, dying to support skater-owned board companies or what do i know - just anyone really getting the gist of it really rather than just 'liking' 'cool' graphics. rest of the crowd will naturally come and go, same goes for anything or anyone. personally never was into jacob ovgren's graphics either, but that's just as far as my tastes are concerned - i could definitely appreciate his work and the imagery pontus was going for by putting it out there.
Topic: what happened to Jacob Ovgrens art on Polar? (Read 10635 times)