Given the amount of time Japanese artist Haroshi spends dismembering and carving up skateboards, one could be forgiven for thinking he had something against the sport. In fact nothing could be further from the truth; his creations are what one might call a labour of love.
Some elements of the pieces that make up his Virtual Reality collection are easily recognisable as skateboards (those being the ones shaped as skateboards), but look more closely at the beautifully smooth edgeless curves of the crafted figures, at the finely carved fragments – they too are constructed of former decks, stacked, reshaped and buffed up with painstaking skill. Haroshi adds little colour of his own, leaving it to the board edges, carefully selected and positioned, to provide that element.
Like more traditional Buddhist sculpture, his pieces often feature an object locked inside, visible only by x-ray. A skater from his youth, the self-taught Haroshi found inspiration for his art in a famous (if you’re a skate fan) 1993 Rodney Mullins video of the same name. If you get your skates on you can catch Haroshi’s collection at NYC’s Jonathan LeVine Gallery until 9th February.
Installation view,
courtesy Jonathan LeVine Gallery
Haroshi
Cat Plant
used skateboards
45.67 x 29.13 x 16.93 inches
(116 x 74 x 43 cm)
Haroshi
Possessed to Skate
used skateboards and epoxy resin
15.75 x 8.86 x 8.27 inches
(40 x 22.5 x 21 cm)
Installation view,
courtesy Jonathan LeVine Gallery
Haroshi
Skate Bullet Smile
used skateboards
12 x 12 x 2 inches
(30.5 x 30.5 x 5 cm)
Haroshi
Invisible Shoe (Air Walk) – Left
used skateboards and epoxy resin
14.96 x 5.12 x 11.81 inches
(38 x 13 x 30 cm)
Haroshi
Skate Rat 2
used skateboards
8.66 x 4.13 x 2.75 inches
(22 x 10.5 x 7 cm)
