▲ CONFESSIONS OF A DIRTY OLD SKATEBOARDER ▲
I’ve always been a fan of Mike Giant’s amazingly colorful skateboard
illustrations as well as the beautiful freehand typographic sketches and
doodles which have inspired so much of modern graphic design aethetics.
As a graphic artist, growing up in California addicted to scribbling on
any free white space anywhere or charging a board in places which you
don’t belong—it is almost impossible not to have been influenced or
inspired by the rebellious creative genius which is Mike Giant.
A year ago, I happened to be in S.F. during the same night of Mike
Giant’s solo show “Confessions of an Old Dirty Skateboarder” hosted at FFDG (Fecal
Face Dot Gallery) This event was highly anticipated as it was his
first solo show with the S.F. gallery space located in the
culturally-vibrant and street-arts rich Mission district. Having gone
through design school, greatly inspired by Giant’s work—I felt
incredibly fortunate to have been at the right space in time to attend
the event. The turnout was excellent; everyone in attendance displayed
true enthusiasm for the body of work and was in true great spirits (it
wasn’t just the brown bagged 40s in hand—a la true Upper Mission art
gallery reception style.)
One of the highlights of the show included a special series by Giant
which displayed large black-and-white portraits of attractive skater
girls (photographed by Giant himself), which he then “doodled” over with
black ink marking famous historical skateboard graphics and industry
logos, beautiful hand-lettering script, blackletter freehand typography,
and random phrases or iconography representative of skateboarding
culture’s past. When I’d asked Giant for more insight about how he
incepted such a unique concept, he explained that after drawing on top
of old skate magazines for over 15 years, he simply applied that same
practice to drawing on top of photographs once he’d learned the
technicalities behind portraiture—he just began shooting his own
photography and then applying his signature ink drawings on top of the
final prints. I’m always blown away when artists can transcend beyond
their traditional skill set and just pick up, master a new art form.
Giant casually brushes off his photography as a secondary passion,
skills to his illustration work—however, it’s no recreational
practice—the guy has just as serious camera skills as well as with a
Sharpie.
The body of work is truly magnificent and the framed artwork is
definitely something I encourage you to see for yourself in person if
you ever have the chance. There is also a video HERE worth checking out as well.
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