Renaissance & Rebellion - Flipbook - Page 181
At the 2022 Oscars, SHoF inaugural inductee Tony Hawk appeared onstage in Gucci as part of the James Bond anniversary
homage. During the first two decades that James Bond pulled super spy stunts, skaters refined their boards and developed moves
from vert to street. Meanwhile, the Southern California art scene moved through the period rooted deeply in evolving forms
contemporary Expressionism and Abstraction. When the ‘80s hit, economies, empires, icons and ideals were upended. AntiEstablishment perspectives increased. Systems were dismantled and new ones put in place. Politically and artistically, these changes
spun into and aligned with the rebels of skate and graffiti culture, who were no longer to be ignored on gallery and museum walls.
Dedication to rebellious street-based expression, refined through disciplined practice is what defined the California Locos
from their individual beginnings. Bonding over Southern California urban experiences and their fine art college educations,
the California Locos each believe they hold the mysterious and ineffable ability to successfully achieve their goals of uniting
the high and low of fine art. The incongruity of their shared street and fine art backgrounds, along with their unfaltering vision
of self-creation allowed the Locos to take the next step beyond gallery and museum walls: to spreading their commitment to
vision and craft, while creating new systems to do so. The California Locos’ vehicle? The skateboard.
The conscious mix of high art on a pop culture artifact that blurred the lines between art and commerce put the
California Locos in a new category distinctly outside of a “skate brand" – one they created themselves. The unique “art and
culture” brand – a chaotic freestyle take on Pop culture philosophy with a healthy dose of hard-headed realism earned by
living hard and bold, and with a heavy commitment to the art itself.
The first 2016 California Locos skateboard line, under the direction of Nóbrega, launched at weeklong pop-ups in
Venice Beach, California and Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Locos brought more than fine art and their new skate line
to Venice Beach. The Locos-adjacent Los Savages band performed live music, joined by legendary artist Llyn Foulkes,
with Norton Wisdom painting live. SALBA, SHoF inductee Steve Alba’s band played, reinforcing the links between
skateboarding, art and music. Both pop-ups included panels discussing the Locos’ social aesthetics and their unique
commitments to Low and High art. This commitment made their next skate collab a natural: counterculture institution,
Robert Williams, the godfather of Pop Surrealism and co-founder of Juxapoz Art & Culture Magazine. Williams’ painting
Appetite for Destruction was replaced as the cover of Guns ’N Roses eponymous debut album after retailers refused to stock
it, turning him from cult figure to a national hero for burgeoning post-punk artists.
The Locos/Williams collab sold out in two weeks and was followed by a 2021 capsule collection with Los Angeles
tattooist Mister Cartoon, known for art ranging from fine line ink on Dr. Dre and Travis Barker to his art on major
corporate collabs to creating the Cypress Hill logo and much more.
More gutsy collabs are on the schedule for the Locos: surf and rock icon Rick Griffin, feminist artist and original “Loca”
Mary Anna Pomonis and original Loco Chaz Bojórquez currently on the lineup with more to follow. Where this will go
is anybody’s guess, but for sure it has already rolled right past the stuffy museum world and the typical profit-driven skate
brand limited to the fast sale. The Locos are riding on a new paradigm – one of their own making, with their commitment
to bringing their brand of fine art to the youth culture iconoclasts of the future.
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