The art world loves the bad boy, and so do I.
And on Saturday night, a special one-night benefit art show of some truly exiting works of art around a raucous theme will be held to support the on-going development of Clemente Skatepark. The event will be held just a few steps from the Con Artist Crew Gallery at the artist-infused 1111 Godfrey warehouse building.
The nonprofit Clemente Skatepark committee, a group of skateboarders and business owners committed to making sure our thriving skateboard community as a world-class park soon, hosts the event.
Throughout the night, they will show a video from the nonprofit to be used to help solicit the $1.5 million they need to convert the park from its very DIY-state to one that Pillar Design Studio has submitted for development.
And while there are no illusions that the money raised in just one night will be nowhere near their goal for this bold new park, Premiere Skate's Chris Gray says that's totally cool because that is their second stage.
“Stage one of our two-part funding mission is to begin to replace the wooden structures presently on the site with concrete ones,” says Gray, also a Clemente board member.
The money raised from the commissions off the sale of the art, door entry fees, and the change they freely encourage people to toss in their giant concrete mixer bucket all goes towards helping them secure another truckload of concrete, which costs about $1,000.
And about that Potty Trained exhibition title?
“The whole theme of this show is around the concept of growing up and a nod to the dumb, stupid shit we do when we are younger,” says Gray. “As we get older, we leave some of these things in our past, but this show jumps right in, capturing that youthful period of our lives.”
Visual or written word artists in the exhibition include: Blake Jablonski, Christopher Allen Gray, Jason Barnes, Austin Cox, Evan McKendry, Cody Erickson, Nick Nortier, Ryan Weiss, Jake Richardson, Ben Pozniak, Nick Hartman, Nicholas Longenecker, Jodi Poole, Andy Poole, Ryan Paplinski, Eli Potter, Alfonso de Anda, Andy Weissenborn, and Reuben Garcia.
Some of the artists will be working on decks that you can wheel up or simply hang on the wall.
There will also be two short films premiered by two skateboarders. “Dusty,” by Alex Gomez begins at 10 p.m. and is a capture reel of friends showing off for people in the street. The other film by Pat Harney, yet untitled at press time, showcases a very artistic view of skateboard culture. Both films promise an authentic experience captured from our area’s athletes and weekend boarders.
For those seeking a best time to watch Clemente Skatepark in action, Gray advises one to select Wednesday, late afternoon before sunset, or weekends.
Admission: $1 entry fee, which also gets you entered into the raffle.
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