Image via Complex Original
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Eco-conscious artists are always on the look out for new materials to upcycle. Here at Complex we’ve featured folks breathing new life into cassette tapes, books and old computer parts. The guys and gals responsible for the art in today’s slideshow take the broken skateboards most riders chuck and transform them into sculptures, mosaics and in one instance, lamps. Since nearly all of the artists are skaters themselves, their relationship with the medium is uniquely intimate and their creations are intensely personal.
Check out our gallery of recycled skateboard art and you’ll never look at decks, trucks and wheels the same way again.
10 Awesome Examples of Skateboard Art.
RELATED: The 25 Greatest Skateboard Brands of All Time
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Graphic Mosaic
When Rich Moorhead started making furniture from his nephew’s broken skateboard decks, he wasn’t sure what to do with all the little pieces left over. Realizing the scraps were great for graphic mosaics, Rich created this piece from 300 hand-cut, individually chosen pieces. Expanding on the idea, Rich started Art of Board, a tile and design company that uses donated bits of boards to decorate skate shops, offices, sneaker stores and more. (Photo from Regrind MySpace)
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The Lingo Series
Self-taught sculptor George Peterson has been skateboarding for over 30 years. The burned, carved and painted recycled boards in his “Lingo Series” look more like primitive cave décor than the contemporary decks that they once were. Peterson’s collection of battered boards was exhibited in Venice, California, the home of skate culture, in the Spring of 2012. (Photo from Circle Factory)
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Skate Sneakers
Japanese artist Haroshi, a skateboarder since his teens, makes striking three-dimensional sculptures by stacking old boards and cutting or shaving the layers down to create intricate objects ranging from skulls to apples to these Nike Dunks. Haroshi places a “soul”—a single metal skateboard piece—inside each of his sculptures, much like ancient Japanese artists put a crystal ball inside Buddha statues. (Photo from Haroshi.com)
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Brazilian Skulls
Graphic designer and artist Beto Janz, carved these skulls for a Brazilian skate shop’s guerilla marketing campaign. Left on the streets of Curitiba, Brazil for area locals to find, the skulls had stickers bound to their back with the shop’s logo and address. Janz found that the feathered wood of the busted decks were a natural fit for his eerie skulls. (Photo from BetoJanz.com)
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Nube Boards
A group of artists that call themselves Nube created these boards for a project named Reskate that aims to recreate abandoned boards as one-of-a-kind mini longboards. After being stripped and restored, blank boards are sent to artists who adorn them with limited edition detailed designs. Berlin’s Pantocrator Gallery displayed the works of art in a 2011 exhibition. Check out all the boards in Reskate’s online gallery. (Photo from Reskate)
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Positive Creation
A Peruvian now living in Montreal, Chris Dyer brings life to old skateboards with bold, colorful designs that often resemble Aztec art. An illustrator, painter, sculptor and graphic artist, Chris has designed for a number of skateboard companies, including Creation Skateboards in Cali and Bustin in New York. The admittedly spiritual Dyer tries to imbue each and every piece of work with an optimistic message. He has revamped over 100 boards, most of which are viewable in his gallery. (Photo from Positive Creations)
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Broken Board Creatures
24-year-old Philly artist Josh Leach has always saved his broken skateboards. He finally found a use for the busted decks in 2009 when he began turning them into imaginary creatures inspired by his sketchbook doodles. Leach incorporates each board’s jagged edges and cracks into the actual design, often using them as the teeth-baring jaws of his otherworldly characters. (Photo from Post-Gazette)
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Sk8 Lamp
Part sculpture, part moveable light source, former semi-pro skater Victor Perez created this cool piece of functional art (shown here on its side). Perez first combined his love for the sport with his love for art in 2008 when he made his first skateboard lamp. He now owns a company that turns discarded decks, trucks and wheels into a variety of artistic lights, each lined on the inside with clippings from skate magazines. (Photo from Sk8Lamps)
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Chop Chop
A self-professed skater girl, sculptor Inga Guzyte fashions whimsical, comic-like characters from pieces of recycled board. While her creations look tiny in pictures, the guy shown here stands about two and a half feet tall. The 27-year-old Lithuanian, who now lives in Santa Barbara, has shown her work in major U.S. cities, including New York and Los Angeles. See all of her light-hearted “monsters,” as she calls them, on her website. (Photo from Inga Guzyte)
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Dog in Motion
Haroshi’s sculptures are so sweet that we had to close out our slideshow with this realistic dog, created for a project involving Haroshi, DLX Distribution and Huff. Bay Area-based DLX sent Haroshi hundreds of discarded decks, each donated by a particular DLX sponsored rider. Since Haroshi believes an athlete and his board are forever connected, each design in the resulting collection reflects the spirit of an individual rider. (Photo from Huff)