Amazingly enough, skateboarding, once deemed a counter-culture activity, will be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, or Tokyo 2020. Steadily documented since the mid-sixties, the sport’s influence on Southern California lifestyle (and beyond) is undeniable — from fashion to music to art.
Against the Grain: Skate Culture and the Camera, a traveling art exhibition, celebrates the history of skateboarding with the photographers who documented the movement including Spike Jonze, C. R. Stecyk III, Glen E. Friedman, and J. Grant Brittain.
Glen E. Friedman; “Chuck Askerneese and Marty Grimes at Kenter Canyon”; 1975.
Grandma, Thrasher, 1984. Swansea © Skin Phillips
Curated by former San Diego resident Jaime Marie Davis, the exhibition, which already opened / closed in New York and London, will land in North America in 2019, followed by Tokyo in 2020.
Bones Brigade, Chin Ramp, 1987 © J. Grant Brittain
Video Days, Jason Lee and Mark Gonzales, 1989 © Spike Jonze
Bones Brigade, Chin Ramp, 1987 © J. Grant Brittain
Utilizing archived material from magazines such as SkateBoarder, Thrasher, Transworld, R.a.D, and Sidewalk, the photographs are beautiful moments in skate history (as seen below.) For more, visit https://atg-exhibition.com/
Todd Swank, Push, 1987 © J. Grant Brittain
Palace Originals, Lucian Hendricks, Crystal Palace, 1985 © Dobie Campbell
Aloha, Mark Gonzales, 1998. Stadtisches Museum, Koln, Germany © Skin Phillips
Untitled (Chris Maalouf, Montreal), 2015 © Sam Muller
