MAKE Skateboards

I-20 Gallery is pleased to announce MAKE SKATEBOARDS, a group exhibition and pop-up skate shop conceived as a throwback to the days when art took precedence over branding and a welcoming vibe met you at the door. The show will be a playful take on running a skateboard shop, transforming I-20 into a functional retail space offering a custom line of artist-designed skateboards, skate-related ephemera and accessories, original artwork, vintage objects, custom furniture and clothing by up-and-coming New York designers.

A true working skate shop, MAKE SKATEBOARDS will offer decks that are fully skate-able yet designed to an artistic standard. Two types of boards will be available: affordable, limited-edition silk-screened skateboards; and one-of-a-kind decks altered and embellished by hand, including several conceptual takes on the idea of skateboarding itself.

While contemporary art, skateboarding and other forms of street culture are at the forefront of current popular tastes, these worlds remain surprisingly inaccessible to much of the public. The creative interaction and welcoming feel of MAKE SKATEBOARDS will attempt to bridge this divide from a convenient location in the heart of the Chelsea art district, just a few short blocks from the Pier 62 Skate Park.

MAKE SKATEBOARDS’s inventory will change and grow throughout its two-month run, offering ever-changing aesthetics and variety to art patrons and skaters alike. Some of the pieces exhibited will result from collaborations with community groups such as the Brooklyn-based League Education & Treatment Center’s L.A.N.D. Gallery, a creative-outreach program for artists with disabilities. The shop will also join forces with KCDC, one of New York’s most established and respected skate shops.

A string of weekly parties will celebrate new shop arrivals, book signings, album launches, and secret band nights. While most galleries close their doors for much of August, the MAKE SKATEBOARDS shop will stay open, serving as a refuge from the hot summer weather.

MAKE SKATEBOARDS was conceived by artist and filmmaker Scott Ogden and organized in conjunction with Jonathan Lavoie, Director of I-20 Gallery. This summer’s event will be the first of many pop-up incarnations of the shop.