Throw Me A Bone: Skateable Public Art

Video of locals Pat and Chase riding the Wave (nicknamed Little Tsunami), a skateable sculpture. 

The story of the project is below. 

.

 

My first solo show turned out to be a fundraiser for skateable public art. The rebar skeleton used for the construction of a concrete skate ramp was presented at Push Gallery and skateshop. The opening was June 21st, Go Skateboarding Day. ALL of the money from art sold in the show is going toward getting a cement truck to come and pour concrete over the rebar at a local D.I.Y. skate park.

 Building the sculptural ramp in my driveway with the help of friends.

 Matt West told me he'd had this pipe bender since high school. 

Now that is a dude destined to have a tool collection.

 Surf's up Toyota

 We cut it apart to fit it in the door of the skateshop / gallery.

 Skate wings.

The sculpture installed.
The steel pipe is the coping that will be exposed on the edge of the ramp. The rebar will be buried in concrete as reinforcement.
As a joke and because the sculpture looked like a cage I put a stuffed gorilla costume on straw inside it. Perhaps a metaphor: Man builds structure to do great things and then is trapped by the things he created. Heavy.

 

Another view. The bottom end of the coping will run into the ground so you ride on grind up or down it. Part of the idea in having this be public skateable art is that it is easy and fun to skate as well as interesting to look at. A kid could skate the small side and be stoked, ride up the coping without know how to do it on a normal ramp. The taller side is prime for getting gnarly airs over the hip or transfer grinds, making it fun for all levels of skateboarding. The profile is like a snowboard jump and very rideable for bikes too.

 
Passed out gorilla in a cage.The Build font is made of cast ceramic femur bones.
 
 
Fundraiser Thermometer

The site.

 

 The sculpture taken apart outside the gallery/skateshop

 Reassembled with footprint painted. The concrete slab will be cut and hammered out.

 Post-concrete sawing. Busting out a channel with a sledge hammer.

The sculpture set into the slab and back-filled with rubble and gravel

Gravel hook-up

 Matt West finishing the coping

 Concrete truck

New wave break in town.

 Local ripper Ben Bradford catching some hang time.
Photo: Justin Fyle