Summer Survival Kit: Editions to let the light into your home

Aug 2, 2022

So it's summer, you're throwing a BBQ, somebody's brought a friend you don't really know. On the way to the kitchen, you pass each other and, disaster(!), you have to make small talk. If only you had a conversation-worthy skateboard art edition hanging in your home. Well, we've collected together a few of our hotter hangers to save your soiree, just in time.

Jean-Michel BASQUIAT - WARRIOR, 1982

At the end of her life, Louise Bourgeois created several series of red gouache drawings depicting family, birth, the mother-child dyad, and flowers. She painted directly onto wet paper, which diffused her lines and created diluted fields of red and pink. Bourgeois liked the element of chance this process provided, as random drips and stains often occurred as she worked. For her, red was symbolic of blood, pain, and the body, but also of the intensity of “the emotions involved.” The five blossoms on this stem reference the five members of her family—both the one she grew up in and the one she shared with her husband.

In the early sixties, Andy Warhol created many works depicting consumer products, Hollywood stars, and a highly publicized series illustrating death and disaster in American society. As one of the most recognized faces in contemporary art, it seemed obvious for us to try and perpetuate Andy Warhol’s vision through our production. That’s why we recently collaborated with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts to produce a series of Andy’s most iconic works including the Sunset purple triptych on skateboards.

Louise BOURGEOIS - LES FLEURS, 2009

René Magritte’s entire body of work confronts its audience with a sense of uncertainty, forcing the individual to reconsider his position within a world where things are not as they seem. Magritte’s ‘Le retour’ is no different as it presents us with elements depicting two conflicting worlds. Magritte’s masterful use of surrealism and treatment of light plunges the audience into confusion and doubt. Is this scene unfolding during day or during night? Alternating from bird to environment, the senses get lost in confusion, leaving you in a state of wonder.

Keith HARING - UNTITLED (SNAKE)

Tobias SPICHTIG - SUNGLASSES, HANDSIGNED

Andy WARHOL - SUNSET – PURPLE

Tobias SPICHTIG lives and works in Zürich and Berlin. His work spans painting, sculpture and performance. As part of his offering for THE SKATEROOM’s Weekend of Art, Skate & Social Change in April 2022, the artist produced four “Sunglasses” skateboard artworks, with two editions of each color. This very limited skateboard art piece is rendered in teal, red, pink or black.

Keith HARING - UNTITLED 1981

Throughout his career, Keith Haring produced murals, sculptures, and paintings to benefit hospitals, groups for underprivileged children, and various community health organizations. Before his death, Keith Haring established a foundation in his name to maintain and enhance his legacy of giving to organizations for children and AIDS. The foundation is also committed to sustaining and expanding public awareness of Keith Haring.

Cindy SHERMAN - UNTITLED #414 (CLOWN), HAND-SIGNED, 2003

In Untitled #414, we find Cindy Sherman disguised as a clown, wrapped in turquoise robe bedazzled in sequins. Like so much of her work, this piece shows Cindy Sherman carefully manipulating her pose, gesture, costume and makeup, using lighting, and composition to create dramatic portraits of herself as a clown. Staged against backdrops of vivid color, Sherman’s Clowns series mixes the masquerade and the make believe, humor and horror. Is this image hysterical or unsettling? Is the character delighted or, beneath the makeup, deeply troubled?

Another Keith Haring, but one of our favorite artworks. This piece is a prime example of his classic "doodle" style, and tells a story of sorts. You'll be sitting on your sofa staring at this one for hours, trying to figure out what it's about.

René MAGRITTE - LE RETOUR

Vincent VAN GOGH - SUNFLOWERS

The Sunflowers is one of the most popular paintings in the National Gallery. It is the painting that is most often reproduced on cards, posters, mugs, tea-towels, and stationery. It was also the picture that Vincent Van Gogh was most proud of. Sunflowers was painted during a rare period of excited optimism, while Van Gogh awaited the arrival of his hero, the avant-garde painter Paul Gauguin. The lonely and passionate Vincent had moved to Arles, in the South of France, where he dreamed of setting up a community of artists with Gauguin as its mentor.

Before Jean-Michel Basquiat became one of the most significant artists of the 20th century, his work was already legendary on the streets of NYC. His poetic and poignant symbols established a visual vocabulary that continues to inspire new generations of artists around the world. Needless to say, we are very happy to produce this edition of Warrior, 1982 on skateboards as part of our new collection featuring the art of Basquiat.