What has skateboarding done for you?

by Lucy Deere

Skateboarding has always sat on the fringe of mainstream. Labelled as ‘underground' or ‘street' culture it has influenced many of us at some stage in our lives as we search for the ultimate cool rebel lurking somewhere inside of us.  While you may assume this usually incorporates aspects of popular culture like fashion and music, the exhibition Board Art shows us how this culture has also impacted on the world of fine arts.

Currently at Te Manawa you can see over 30 skateboard decks, each uniquely altered by artists and graphic designers from around Aotearoa New Zealand and the rest of the world. In their creative attacks they have transformed blank boards into paintings and sculptures, in a sense exploring how this culture may have affected some part of their life and inspired the art they make.

When you check it out take a look beyond the savvy, colourful and sometimes quite humorous visual qualities of the skateboards and read some of some of the personal stories artists tell of their connections to skateboarding.

One of the artists, Peter Fitzpatrick, says "I got my first (and only) skateboard in 1974 or '75, when it was first getting to be popular in NZ. New technology made the modern boards a lot faster and smoother than the old-fashioned jobs cobbled together out of old rubber-wheeled roller-skates. I saw guys on TV doing all kinds of tricks, but living in a small town in the Bay of Plenty I had no-one to teach me how to do all that stuff, and so I tried to work it out for myself. It did not go well..."

Even I have had a run in with a skateboard. I was 8, and all the kids in my street had one so I needed one too of course!  It was my pride and joy; fluoro green and pink. Soon I was out there on the neighbourhood driveways in my ripped dreams waywardly near-missing my fellow skaters. For me it was as simple as finding a way to connect with my peers.

Skateboarding has had such an effect on our culture; you will even find one in the collection of Te Manawa! If you want to see it online visit http://www.nzmuseums.co.nz/account/3032/object/28212/Skateboard

So while perusing these awesome feats of creativity, have a think about your connection with skateboards. What has this underground culture done for you?

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