Skateboarding
Art and Skateboarding Collide on Go Skate Day
Pudwill, Sheckler, Decenzo and the Red Bull skate team unveil Seattle's latest art installation.
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3 min
Red Bull Skate Space Highlight Video
A true collaboration of Seattle's two beloved passions: art and skateboarding.
UPDATE: Watch the video from the unveiling.
With the intention of making a lasting impact on the local skateboarding community, Torey Pudwill and artist C.J. Rench collaborated on a project combining two of Seattle's passions: art and skateboarding.
Alongside fellow Red Bull skateboarders Ryan Sheckler, Felipe Gustavo, Ryan Decenzo, Alex Midler and Joey Brezenski, Seattle's latest permanent art piece was unveiled at Jefferson Park on International Go Skateboarding Day.
“Today was a huge success in skateboarding history. We’ve successfully created a one-of-a-kind, multipurpose art piece,” said Pudwill. “Seeing everyone put this to use for the first time is a dream come true.”
Hundreds of skaters from the local community came out to support the project and get a firsthand lesson from the crew on how to skate their new feature.
It's not an easy task to create a piece of art that doubles as a quality skateable feature. It wasn't always straightforward as the project took shape after two years of collaboration.
Transporting the installation to its final home.
© Aaron Rogosin
Jefferson Park’s newest public art piece.
© Aaron Rogosin
A few local checking out the Skate Space.
© Aaron Rogosin
Prepping the art for installation in Seattle.
© Aaron Rogosin
The concept is a true celebration of culture and skateboarding that is ultimately reshaping the way people view and interact with public art.
The art piece designed by Torey and CJ ended up weighing 11 thousand pounds, stretching more than fifty feet wide and twenty-two feet tall. It's made out of mild carbon and stainless steel, requiring 26 people to move and install in its final resting place. Multiple forklifts along with the assistance of an 18-ton crane were needed to lift all of the pieces off the truck.
“Bridging the game between art and sport is such a cool concept, but once we finished putting this up I realized that we had done it,” said Rench. “Seeing moms and dads sitting on the sculpture as their kids skated around, it was just icing on the cake to see all of these people enjoy one art piece so differently.”
Check back on Friday, June 27 for highlights from the event.
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