March 29, 2024

“Skateboarders Vs. Minimalism” impresses with new perspectives on skate culture

Courtesy of Judd Overton

By Megan Sullivan

Staff Writer

 

“Skateboarders Vs. Minimalism,” challenges the stereotype that skateboarders vandalize

and draws contrast between skaters and well­known minimalist art sculptures through creative

videos.

 

The exhibit exceeds expectations in its creativity and originality, but is unsatisfactory in

creating a entertaining environment due to the poor execution of the event. The videos

themselves were artistic and visionary, but somewhat redundant and unamusing.

The film “Skateboarders Vs. Minimalism” was created by Australian contemporary artist

Shaun Gladwell. It is inspired by a series of skateboarding films created by skateboarder Rodney

Mullen.The showing of the film that took place on June 4 at the Torrance Art Museum marked

the North American premiere of the film.

 

Mullen stars in Gladwell’s film along with skateboarders, Jesus Esteban and Hillary

Thomson. The exhibit featured three separate videos each with one of the skaters skateboarding

on famous modern sculptures by artists including Donald Judd, Carl Andre and Dan Flavin. The

videos were filmed and presented inside the gallery.

 

The techniques used to create these videos was unique to Gladwell, due to the fact this

was the first film he ever produced. The videos were innovative and original, making them a

refreshing addition to the art and skateboarding community. It was clever and provided a new

inside perspective on the community which made the exhibit beneficial to the art world.

Not only were the videos unique, but each video was filmed with a great amount of effort

and precision. They captured various angles of the skaters and included a large variety of tricks,

which made it more engaging to the audience.

 

Although the videos were the main focus of the exhibit, the energy produced by the

crowd created a lively atmosphere. People brought skateboards to skate around the exhibit while

the videos were playing, bringing the films to life and gave the whole event a lively atmosphere.

 

Unfortunately, the crowd’s energy was not enough to make the entire event entertaining

because the videos were redundant and became monotonous. Although the vidoes focused on

three different skaterboarders, all three films were very similar in style of production. The exhibit

was enjoyable for ten minutes but then lost all its effect on the viewers.

 

Overall, “Skateboarders Vs. Minimalists” provided fresh new ideaswhere skateboarders,

artists, and viewers could collaborate, but failed to captivate audiences due to its redundant and

predictable plot. However, the energy of the event was not affected by the unamusing art and

created an enjoyable environment for viewers.

 

“Skateboarders Vs. Minimalists,” premiered in North America on June 4 at the Torrance

Art Museum. The Torrance Art museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 5pm.

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