Skateboard Decks

In the early 1970s, skate culture and street art became deeply intertwined, and a new medium for artists was born: the skate deck. In earlier days, when skateboarding was still a subculture on the fringe, simply being a skater was enough to set oneself apart from the crowd. However, the growing popularity of the sport pushed many creative skaters to find ways to individualize their boards. Borrowing from motifs and styles popularized by graffiti artists, skaters designed the undersides of their boards as extensions of themselves. In the decades since, fine art, street art, and skate culture have become inseparable, and some of Andy Warhol’s most renowned works have been reproduced on the decks of skateboards, from his still lifes of Campbell’s Soup Cans to his portraits of Elvis Presley.