Skate & Destroy

Hot diggity! The things people are doing with skateboards and art never cease to amaze me. And all the Japanese artists I know are killing it way more than you anyways. Currently on exhibition at plsmis in Tokyo ‘Skate and Destroy’ (yes I know, pretty original name huh?) by Haroshi (Harvest). He’s making these killer-amazing sculptures out of old and broken skate decks. The show is only around until the 27th of February so if you happen to be in Tokyo – what the fuck are you doing reading our blog anyways; go buy shoes and caps! – then check it out.

Looking at that first picture up there makes me think he’s either a fat bastard or been killing it for years. I’ve snapped about 1 and a half boards in my time and I remember my daddy taking me back to the skateshop and demanding a refund cos I had focussed my half hour old board doing a popshuvit down some stairs. Who the fuck hasn’t snapped a board doing stupid shit down some stairs anyway? Dad, get with it man.

Check out Haroshi’s words of wisdom here: We totally copy pasted them. Everything has changed since I learned about copy paste.

“Skate decks eventually see its life shortened by snapping, cracking and/or wearing out. Purchasing new decks is a never ending cycle and this was evident by the tower of old decks that were reaching to the ceiling of my room. We can’t throw away these decks because they hold sentimental meanings to us. I looked at these unusable decks every day and thought there must be something I can make with these.

I decided to make some accessories with the old decks and this was the birth of Harvest. The works of Harvest are through the perspectives of a skater and as an artist. As a skater, I want to take responsibility of reusing skateboards when they were no longer useable. Also, as an artist I want to explore the possibilities of what can be done with skateboards.

We see the care and effort that a skater can have for his/her deck and we also acknowledge the origins of a skateboard. We believe that if the small things we do can connect to sustainability then we’re doing something right. We’d be satisfied in our effort when people look at products and start thinking of ways to recycle.”

Take a look at an interview with Haroshi about this exhibition (I know you read Japanese as well as I do. Either way there are some good pics) and here’s some more information on the exhibition.