Bedford Gallery Walnut Creek, CA
July 5 - Septmeber 13, 2009 Featured Artists James Barsness • Tiffany Bozic • Todd Bratrud • Steve Caballero • Sean Cliver • Lori Damiano • Corey Duffel • Phil Eggleston • Skip Engblom • Jeremy Fish • Todd Francis • Mike Giant • Mahtab Habibian • Damien Hirst • Faye Jaime • Ian Johnson • Bryce Kanights • Obi Kaufman • Mike Kershnar • Billy Kroft • Tom Ledin • Amanda Lynn • Holly Lyons • Chris Main • Gwen Manfrin • Marilyn Minter • Johnny Mojo • Takashi Murakami • Pushead • Matt Ritchie • Jenny Schmid • Kirk Shelton • Deth P Sun • Winston Tseng •
Jake Watling • Derek Weisberg • Christopher Wool • Tobin Yelland
Opening Reception/Book Signing Thursday, July 9, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Admission: $5
Meet Sean Cliver, author of Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art and The Disposable Skateboard Bible, and other skate culture celebs.
Bg Skate Day Saturday, August 15, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Free Admission
Art activities in the gallery from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., followed by a pro skate demo from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Culture + Cocktails Thursday, September 10, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Admission: $7
Enjoy skate films and live music while you sip. 21 and over only. RSVP required. 925/295-1423.
Full Deck presents an anthology of skate-art from the 1960’s to the present. The skate artist’s aesthetic—raw, passionate and personal—is energized by a devotion to the act of skating and a DIY embrace of skate culture.
Since the first graphic was drawn onto a board, the culture of skateboarding has grown hand in hand with visual arts movements such as the Mission School (Barry McGee, Chris Johanson) and graffiti art. The skate culture’s embrace of individual style, approach and intention is, I think, what continues to draw new skaters to this renegade art practice—a hybrid in a realm of its own. And like the inclusive surf community, skaters and skate artists span several generations.
The multi-media skate art community fosters the highly unique mix of painting, graphics, photography, filmmaking, music, stickers, magazines and clothing—the ever-growing creative by-products stemming from this alternative and popular mode of transportation. The colorful graphic paintings on the bottom of a skateboard are one of the purest forms of self-expression: highly personal and mostly created without artistic boundaries—just like skateboarding itself.
Carrie Lederer, Curator of Exhibitions & Programs
