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Where skaters go, art will follow; from the design on their boards to the graffiti at the skate park. So, when Jo Waterhouse and David Penhallow conceived their online magazine (www.coldpsace.net) focusing on skateboarding and art, it seemed only natural to fill the gap and produce a book which featured the artwork of skateboarders. And so ‘Concrete Canvass’ was born.
“The book was intended as a compilation of contemporary artwork and graphics by a variety of artists and designers from a skateboarding background. There seemed to be a formal lack of coverage of this sub-sub culture,” says David. “I think the format of the book is fresh. The square format was offered to us by [book publishers] Laurence King, which was cool as it's reminiscent of certain 60s design and style books. In terms of the design, I wanted to steer clear of the ever-so ‘played out’ skate style of design, with bad typography and general busyness. The design was really driven by the desire to let the artwork do the talking, without any graphic noise.”
“The artwork inside the book makes it stand out,” adds Jo. “All the work supplied by the artists is outstanding. Quite a few of the artists have never had their work in print before, so the content is fresh and unique.” The book features over 25 artists/skateboarders who were sourced by Jo. She started off with an initial wish list but the word soon spread. “One of the main priorities was to have a good mix of different styles and mediums, and also to include people that had never had their work published before so that it wouldn't just be a book full of all the usual suspects.”
Jo and David both have a genuine interest in the area although neither claim to be an authority on the subject. “The book's simply about taking a snap shot of the skateboard art scene as it is/was and having a bit of informative text from each artist,” says David. ”The selection of artists was quite a careful process that Jo and I went through, as we felt the blend was key because so many of the artists work with different media and we wanted the selection of artists and artwork to reflect this. I think you can view the book and appreciate the artwork within it without having to put it in the context of it being art by skateboarders. Every artist is an individual and all the work is unique to those individuals. I think there is a tendency to want to generalise and pigeonhole artists as one thing or another. I think conceptually there is no difference but I would say the main difference would probably be in the attitude of the artists, and their attitude and opinion of 'mainstream' art and the art establishment.”
Both David and Jo are from the West Midlands and believe the scene is thriving. “There are lots of pockets of activity all over the region so it's difficult to comment on it as a whole,” comments Jo. “I think Birmingham should be able to rival London in terms of arts venues and events but I don't think it's at that stage yet. The Custard Factory is a good asset to the region and I'm loving what the self-curated arts collective The Outcrowd, is doing. I now live in Worcester and that has a great skate scene but the art scene isn't very interesting at the moment. There's lots of people quietly doing their thing, but there just aren't enough independent venues to give them any exposure.”
For a full list of contributing artists see www.concretetocanvas.co.uk
‘Concrete to Canvas: Skateboarders’ Art’ is out on 14 November.
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