Design Major: Club Mumble x Threadless

-This info in the image basically explains it (check the shirts at Threadless,) but I'd just like to remark on how great resource Club Mumble is for all things skate-art related. I've explained in the past how Don Pendleton's work for Alien Workshop had a huge influence on my artistic tastes as I was getting deep into skateboarding at the beginning of the decade. Dope stuff. 

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Art Major: Rip the Ripper

-These images are from the recent event Rip the Ripper, which showcased different artist's reworkings of the iconic Powell logo.  The one on the left is by Shepard Fairey and, interestingly, shows the ripper tearing through Fairey's second-most iconic print. The painting on the right is from Don Pendleton, whose signature style shaped the look of Alien Workshop at a time when I was very much a fan of the Sovereign Sect. Check out the rest of the pieces, including works by legendary skaters Steve Caballero and Lance Mountain, here.

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Art Major: Seattle's Best

-Seattle based clothing company Flying Coffin has teamed up with two of our favorite Seattle entities, Manik Skateboards, and GOODS, to celebrate their two year anniversary with this limited (50 sets of 5, 250 total) collage series of decks. The decks can be purchased individually or as the complete series. There is also a commemorative t-shirt featuring similar artwork. As with the items in the past couple of posts I've done, I've purchased this as well. I bought the series for a clean $265. What can I say? There's a big blank spot on my wall and I'm trying to single handedly keep the Washington economy afloat. 

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Photography 2009: This is My Life

-Here's an interesting contest from the good folks at RVCA, Color Magazine, and Timebomb Trading. From Club Mumble "Take 12 photos of your day with your cell phone and create a 12 frame (one per hour) contact sheet. The most interesting day wins a clothing package from RVCA valued at $500." 

-It doesn't cost you anything, so why not be creative and have a chance at free clothes. I would do it but, you know, every picture I take on my shitty-ass phone just looks like grey fuzz. The details are here. 

-Club Mumble, by the way, is a newly launched blog that features 100 different authors. The group includes legendary names in the skateboard/art community and is a definite must-check for anyone interested in the kind of things we're interested in. 

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Art Major: Monsieur T. x Hecklewood Wood Pushers

-Portland based streetwear label Monsieur T. and is teaming up with Hecklewood boutique/gallery tomorrow (Dec. 4) to present Wood Pushers, a skateboard art exhibition. Small boutiques and galleries keep the local art and streetwear scenes alive, so we urge our Portland skate/art/coolness friends to hit this up. I remember attending a similar show at Local 35 on Hawthorne back in high school and it was one of the first times that I started to grasp the importance of independent boutiques within a city's retail economy. And there was free beer there. The show takes place at Hecklewood Gallery 114 NW 3rd Ave. Portland, OR 97209, with an opening reception from 7-10pm. The pieces from the show will be available for purchase on Hecklewood's web site after the show.
-Here are my two favorite items from Monsieur T.:
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Art History: Stack the Decks

-Skate decks have long been an under appreciated mecca of modern art. With more and more artists and companies seeing the skate deck as an equally important artistic and athletic vehicle, it was perfect timing for a exhaustingly comprehensive examination of the history of skateboard design.
-Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art accomplishes the task brilliantly. Told from the perspective of legendary artist Sean Cliver as he made his way in the skateboarding world, starting at the epochal Powell Peralta powerhouse. The book includes countless interviews, anecdotes, and photos as it relentlessly details the construction of an industry.
-Chris from Skate Daily summarized the effect of the book with a great quote in his review, "Anyone who has skated for even a brief period of time can remember the graphic on the bottom of their favorite deck. The artwork became a part of your story…why you picked that board to skate, and why it spoke to you. This book is an extension of that feeling."
-My first deck was a Zero deck with a very uncharacteristically Zero graphic of ships falling off the edge of the Earth, I wish I still had it. In addition to that board, I think back to my red Muska silhouette, the one from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. I wish I had those decks now, not to skate (I skate blanks like a real skater, duh) but to hang on my wall .
-Take a tip form Dyrdek and the next time you're looking of some fresh art to adorn your walls, head to your local skate shop and pick up a piece of modern art for around $50. A little bit more on the subject after the jump.




-Thinking back to when I was first getting into skating, I was always drawn graphically to Alien Workshop. The chronicles Mike Hill, the mastermind behind many early AWS decks, as well a s many other artists who were instrumental in shaping the way decks look today.


-This is the only photo I could find of that iconic Muska deck. Someone find me a photo of the actual deck. Fuck, that was a sick deck. I don't even know what happened to it.Muska is one of the most hated skaters in the industry, but I love him.

Oh yeah, the photo in the original post, the vision deck, thats by Andy Takakjian. From the disposable site. Check it out. oh yeah i heard about this originally form the Turntable Lab blog.
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