THE SKATEROOM, is proud to present the limited edition Wayne THIEBAUD collection, produced in partnership with the Fondation Beyeler and Acquavella Galleries, in aid of Concrete Jungle Foundation’s EduSkate programs around the world.
In tandem with the opening of the Fondation Beyeler’s Wayne Thiebaud retrospective exhibition in 2023, THE SKATEROOM has created a collection of limited edition skateboard artworks, marking our third collaboration with the Fondation Beyeler (See: Cindy SHERMAN, Andy WARHOL).
The collection features: Tomato Bowl (solo); Fruits, Vegetables and Melons (solo); Jolly Cones (diptych); Three Cones (triptych). These four pieces, each released in a limited run of 100, are celebrations of Thiebaud’s outstanding oeuvre, and exemplify the artist’s mouthwatering, yet somehow bittersweet, depictions of retro Americana confectionery.
The Limited Wayne THIEBAUD Collection
Wayne Thiebaud: Pop or not?
At the age of 14, artist-to-be Wayne Thiebaud was working at a food stand serving hot-dogs, hamburgers and ice-cream to customers. He can’t have known he was already collecting images for his future as a painter, but this sort of confectionery would become the primary focus of much of the artist’s most recognizable work.
His paintings, many of them returning again and again to the same subject-matter, have been associated with Pop-Art and New Realism respectively, placing Thiebaud somewhere between artists of that style. Perhaps it was his time as a cartoonist—a brief stint at Disney Studios, or the advertising art-department. role he held— which prompted such associations.
Thiebaud’s repeated exploration of Americana imagery, and particularly the mouth-watering, pastelized cakes and pastries of bakeries in the US, clearly had more loyalty to traditional painting and Modernists like Edward Hopper, than the iconoclasm and irony of Pop Artists. Thiebaud played with light and shade, as well as detail and vagueness; often rendering the subjects of his paintings in more color than his backgrounds, or giving his confectioneries a third-dimension often applying so much oil paint that it began to take on the texture of cake frosting and ice cream.
“Wayne Thiebaud always said that painting has something to do with the body, and the body has to be balanced. For him, this balance was tennis. He would play tennis every day, into his nineties. He’d have appreciated the balance of art and skateboarding that this collection celebrates.”
– Ulf Küster, Senior Curator – Fondation Beyeler
10% FOR CHANGE
EduSkate: empowering at-risk youth globally
As always, 10% of all revenue from these pieces will go directly to funding our social-skate partners. In this case, the incredible EduSkate program, a skateboarding and education curriculum by Concrete Jungle Foundation which empowers at-risk youth around the world.
In 2022, CJF launched the Edu-Skate Worldwide Network, an initiative to develop high quality educational programs, connecting social skateboarding organizations worldwide with a collection of tools and resources. It reaches 400 youth per year, and CJF needs support to double this impact in 2023. This includes edu-skate programming across Peru, Jamaica, & Morocco, expansion of the Edu Skate Worldwide Network (ESWN), and Planting Seeds Apprenticeship. By purchasing an edition from this collection, you can become part of creating lasting, social change around the world.
The Limited Wayne THIEBAUD Collection
THE SKATEROOM
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The limited Wayne Thiebaud collection is now available via the Fondation Beyeler shop and at theskateroom.com.
Special thanks to the Wayne Thiebaud Foundation, Acquavella Galleries and Fondation Beyeler.
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