Paul McCarthy Designs $30,000 Skateboard for Charity

The skateboards are based on McCarthy's PROPO series. Photo: MoMA Store

As contemporary art continues to embrace skate culture, the American artist Paul McCarthy has collaborated with the Brussels-based charity initiative, The Skateroom, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The set of eleven McCarthy-designed skateboard decks depict images from his PROPO series. Speaking about the series, McCarthy told the MoMA, “Between 1972 and 1983, I did a series of performances that involved masks, bottles, pans, uniforms, dolls, stuffed animals, etc. After the performances, these objects were either left behind or they were collected and stored in suitcases and trunks to be used in future performances. In 1983, the closed suitcases and trunks containing these performance objects were stacked on a table and exhibited as sculpture. In 1991, I opened the suitcases and trunks and photographed each item. The group of photographs in their entirety was titled PROPO.”

According to Skateroom’s website, the Belgian non-profit “invites contemporary artists to interpret skate culture by creating art on skateboards. The Skateroom produces, promotes and sells these limited edition skateboards…[to] support non-profit projects that empower children through skateboarding and art.”

Each $30,000 set, limited to an edition of 35, comes packaged in a custom-made flight case which includes wheels, trucks, bolts and transparent grip-tape.

All proceeds from the collaboration will go towards the international NGO Skateistan, which is constructing a skateboarding and cultural center for underprivileged children in Johannesburg, South Africa.


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