Surrealist imagery and irony are all that is left. The commercial and athletic iteration of skateboarding is set in stone now that it is part of the olympics. The fashion industry has already chewed up the culture and spit it back out. A new strobeck will emerge. One who is more inspired by Ryan Trecartin than Larry Clark. With that, a new supreme. Matt King has been doing it for years but people weren’t ready for it. It was still the pretty boy era when he was making his best work. The boards aren’t going to change, neither are the tricks, or the spots. The hub will perpetually switch between LA and NYC, as it does. The model era will turn into the performance art era. Videos will have overwhelming imagery and audio. There will be a new found sentience. After that, nothing. Once the irony loses its charm, there won’t be much of a “sub culture” left. Most of the independent skaters will realize that they are better off getting into theatre, fashion, or performance art. The act of skateboarding will be reduced to a Gatorade ad/ money laundering scheme, like the rest of athletics.