History on Wheels (1999 – Present)
History on Wheels is an ongoing series of works where we establish a parallel between the history of skateboarding and the history of contemporary art, creating artworks from this intersection.
For example, in The Concrete Movements: Skateboard Wave in Art Road Map Since 1945–60, we mixed sentences, paragraphs, and images from most skateboarding and art history books, creating a new intertext book that tells an alternative version of skateboarding history.
Another piece from this series is the History on Wheels Essays, where I take a “History of Art” book and transform it into a skateboard, creating new meanings and functions. This has become a series, in which curators and collectors provide their history books, which I transform into new pieces using my used trucks and wheels.
We have also painted the surface of a skateboarding ramp white, and after it is used and marked by skateboarders, we remove the surface and hang it on the wall as a painting or drawing. The result is an abstract painting, created through unconscious movements, similar to the ideas of abstract expressionist artists, but produced by a group or community rather than an individual artist.
During my residency at Art In General in New York City in 2005, we created the NYC Skateboartists Map, a project where we mapped and visited all NYC skateboarding spots, producing a series of pieces shown in the studio.
In 2016, we built Number 03-16 (A la FANAL), a sculptural ramp incorporating all the different curves in skateboard history, painted white. The ramp also served as a History on Wheels archive, including previously made pieces such as a Skate Map, a Skate/Book, a video, and other collaborative artworks with local skateboarders. Built inside the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo main salon, it paid homage to the building’s beautiful wooden architecture and was used by skateboarders and visitors during scheduled times, including exclusive periods for females, beginners, and disadvantaged participants. After the exhibition, the ramp was donated to the first skate school in Costa Rica, run by collaborator and friend Chino Muñoz in San Jose.
The Ceremonial Pearl-Hole is a public sculpture at Art Omi Sculptural Park. It pays homage to the La Perla Bowl, another project, and the sculpture’s design incorporates elements from skateboarding history: a roll-in, a mini ramp area, a vert side, an over vert, and a handmade “Pool Coping,” all surrounded by standing rocks reminiscent of the Bateys of the Taíno, the Indigenous people of Puerto Rico.
