Skateboarding and Art

Counterculture and art have always gone hand in hand. The skate scene of the 1980s is no exception. During the 60s to late 70s, skateboards were seen more as toys. As they became more popular, awareness of the dangers they possessed grew. With high insurance rates causing many skateparks at the time to close, the skate-punk scene as we know it started to form. Punks and skaters bonded over their disappointment and frustration in major corporations and institutions, and from this an entire subculture was born. Creative outlets like zines, board designs, and graphic design became creative mediums for people in the scene to express themselves. Artist Dennis McNett aka Wolfbat Studios draws inspiration from these aesthetics and ideas. Prominent in both the Fine Art world and the design world, McNett mixes traditional printing techniques with bold, loud, colors. Learn more about the counterculture that influenced the Schneider Museum of Art’s exhibition Pushing the Press with the link below, and come see some fun, satirical, and bright prints at the Museum today.

https://opening-contemporary-art.press.plymouth.edu/chapter/skateboarding-and-its-influence-on-contemporary-culture/

Lithography

Lithography, or stone printing, was discovered by playwright Alois Senefender when he found that he could mass print copies of his plays using limestone and grease. Nowadays, a chemical is added to increase the bonding between the grease layer and the printing ink. The blank area of the stone will then attract moisture and reject ink while the greased parts will hold the ink. Kathryn Polk, lithographer and co-owner of L VIS print, uses this technique to create memoirs of her southern upbringing and question the gender roles that surrounded her. Learn more about lithography with the video above, and see some of Kathryn Polk’s work in the Heiter Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art.

Photorealism

The photorealism art movement often gets overshadowed by other art movements of the time, such as abstract expressionism, pop art, and then minimalism. Starting around the mid-60s, it took about a decade for photorealism to establish itself as a defined genre of painting. Key artists of this style include Chuck Close, Duane Hanson, Audrey Flack, and Ralph Goings. The technique of gridding became popular within this movement. In order to get the most realistic final product, artists would project the image they wished to paint onto a canvas. Breaking the canvas up into a grid made it easier to focus on one piece at a time. While this movement started in New York, it quickly spread. Taiwanese painter C.J. Yao is best known for his photorealistic images of urban scenes. Using silk screen printing rather than paint, Yao brings a modern, gritty approach to a historically sublime focused art form. Come see Yao’s piece Building Reflection No. 5 in the Schneider Museum of Art’s Entry Gallery and learn more about the photorealism art movement with the link below.

https://www.theartstory.org/movement/photorealism/

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