New paintings by New York based artist Mark Gonzales—an exploration into the artist's experimentation with color theory and mood inspired by classic portraiture.
The artworks crackle with movement fittingly—Gonzales is a dancer, in the tradition of Merce Cunningham or
Trisha Brown, but on wheels. His teenage years in 1980s Los Angeles were spent traversing the streets, which, by proxy, became his moving canvas. He earned a reputation as a pioneer of modern skateboarding—a master, albeit one not bound by flawlessness or precision, but the anarchy afforded only after achieving true mastery. It was as if he haphazardly broke the laws of nature, causing time and space to bend to him, leaving a wake of influential agitation behind him.
His art, like his poetry, is not separate from his skating. Gonzales's canvases are filled with painterly technique honed over years of drawing and painting, but they also exhibit a shambolic quality; the works are precise and imprecise all at once. This particular body is inspired by the disappointment he felt when his business partner "sold out" in the early 1990s, the faces are bursting with bitterness. They are put-on fake smiles, cheerful in the face of misery and embarrassment. Years later, however, the harsh cynicism has softened, and the power of the smiles seems to have cracked the regret. Indeed, Gonzales seems to be saying, flowers, grown in even the harshest of conditions, can have an immutable healing power.
Mark Gonzales ("The Gonz") is an American artist and professional skateboarder best known for his profound contribution to the development of street skateboarding from the mid-1980s onward. Gonzales' creative outlook is evident in his ability to perform inventive new tricks using the existing framework of urban architecture like handrails, stairs, and ledges. His artwork grew out of the same environment as his skateboarding and includes illustrating zines, which often have surreal and humorous characters, as well as producing and collaborating on projects with
Harmony Korine and
Spike Jonze. Born on June 1, 1968 in South Gate, CA, he began skateboarding by the age of 13 and formed the company Blind Skateboards in 1989. While pursuing his sporting career, the artist began drawing in his free time and created graphics for Krooked Skateboards. Since then, he has collaborated with the clothing brand Supreme and Adidas to name just a few. He lives and works in New York.
