For several generations of skateboarders now, a group of Los Angeles-based skaters served as their collective inspiration, while moving forward with the modern skate phenomena as we know it today. The original Zephyr team, known as the “Z-Boys,” were one of the earliest and most visible groups. They established an innovative style when they began skating empty swimming pools in the mid-1970s, but other skaters followed, helping shape the new urban sport.
Years later, many of these iconic athletes still shred the sidewalk, but now they also do work as artists in various media. Whether designing skateboards, making original paintings, or even playing in punk rock bands, the connection to the art world was ever-present for many of these skaters. In an effort to shed some light on this unique niche, skateboarder and artist Pat Ngoho began collaborating with famous boarders Steve Olson and Lance Mountain to create a series of small art shows that give a voice to the art world surrounding skateboarding.
“Skateboarding is performance art,” Ngoho told the Sun via email. “We oftentimes work in an array of different media, and therefore Love and Guts was created as a platform for skateboarding artists to showcase these other artistic media.”
Love + Guts has been showcased across the globe, from New York City to Tokyo, or New Zealand to Getxo, Spain. The latest installation of the traveling art show happens in Santa Maria thanks to collaboration with Allan Hancock College art instructor and County Arts Commissioner John Hood, Ngoho explained.
Hood grew up in the Los Angeles area and enjoyed skateboarding with a number of friends, including Ngoho. After coming to Hancock to teach art and design, he noticed a number of student artists obviously influenced by skateboarding and skateboarding artists, including some of his friends. Hood reconnected with several of the artists showing in Love + Guts at the funeral of original Zephyr team member Jay Adams, who passed away last year, Hood explained.
“We all talked about what we had been up to over the years, and they’re all artists in different forms, from painters to sculptors, and graphic artists … ,” Hood said. “I told them that I curate shows for the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, and they were open to it because, for them, it’s all about getting the work out there and bringing it to the community.”
The exhibition is currently showing at the Betteravia Gallery North and South, located at the Joseph Centeno Betteravia Administration Building, where art by world-famous skaters shows next to that of student artists and skaters from Santa Maria and places nearby. Famous skaters featured include Ngoho, Lance Mountain, Steve Olson, Steve Caballero, Christian Hosoi, Peggy Oki, David Hackett, Hagop Najarion, and Steve Alba. Local artists include Glenn C. Carlon, Daniel Fuentes, Inga Guzyte, Jack Harold Misiaszek, Patrick Tuason, and even Hood himself.
The inclusion of local artists in the show is akin to skateboarding tradition, Ngoho explained. When you skate someone else’s park, you always respect the locals. The famous skaters will hold a skate session in San Luis Obispo on Sept. 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to showcase skating style. An opening reception event at the Betteravia Gallery in Santa Maria happens later that day, where locals can interact with the artists during a question-and-answer session in the County Board of Supervisors meeting room.
“It’s a very tight group that is extremely dedicated to their art,” Hood said. “They kind of feed off of each other with what they do artistically, so this show is a chance for them to check in with each other yearly. They’ve always challenged each other, but now it’s in the artistic vein of visual arts, so they are just continuing that relationship that began with skating.”
For one of Hood’s students, Glenn C. Carlon, the work of skaters like Christian Hosoi and many of the Zephyr team inspired him both to skate and hone his skills in the visual arts. Hood took notice of Carlon’s work, especially when the young artist created a piece inspired by the Z-Boys.
Carlon was not used to working with paints and a paintbrush on canvas, but rather an aerosol spray paint can, stencils, and whatever he could find for a backdrop. Several of his pieces include found pieces of wood, including a broken skateboard.
“Skateboarding, to me, it’s all about freedom, because you are just getting away from everything and doing your own thing,” Carlon said. “Sometimes mistakes happen, but sometimes they’re a good thing.”
For local artists like Carlon and the rest of the group, the chance to showcase their art next to titans of the industry is unprecedented. The spirit of outreach present in Love + Guts permeates the show and the activities surrounding it. The skate session in SLO and the Q-and-A in Santa Maria on Sept. 19 attests to that, and an outreach event organized by several local churches the following morning at OneWay Boardshop in the Santa Maria Town Center offers another kind of inspiration and guidance from some of the skaters involved. The exhibit means a lot to Santa Maria, Hood explained, as the popularity of skateboarding is big in the community, yet exhibits like Love + Guts hardly ever come to town.
For Ngoho, showing his art next to his friends’ is an invaluable experience, but getting out there and sharing both the art and craft of skateboarding with those interested is what truly excites him.
“I would suggest to a viewer—if they come to the SLO skate session—to look past the legendary names and the fanaticism and try to take in each skater’s individual style, how they ride, the tricks they do, and how they adapt to their environment and see the creative display being put forth,” Ngoho wrote. “You will see elegance, rebellion, triumph, drama, and sometimes tragedy. It’s an amazing experience that just about everyone can relate to.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne has never even achieved a successful ollie. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 17-24, 2015.