SONTANK'S ALTER EGO

ANDY WARHOL

2009-03-21T02:25:00.000-07:00

Andrew Warhola (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987), more commonly known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became famous worldwide for his work as a painter, avant-garde filmmaker, record producer, author, and public figure known for his membership in wildly diverse social circles that included bohemian street people, distinguished intellectuals, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy aristocrats.

Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films.

Childhood

Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the third child of his parents, Andrij (Andrew) Warhola and Ulja (Julia). His parents were working-class immigrants of Rusyn ethnicity from Miková, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in northeastern Slovakia). Warhol's father immigrated to the US in 1914, and his mother joined him in 1921, after the death of Andy Warhol's grandparents. Warhol's father worked in a coal mine. The family lived at 55 Beelen Street and later at 3252 Dawson Street in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh.The family was Byzantine Catholic and attended St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church. Andy Warhol had two older brothers, John and Paul, who were born in today's Slovakia.

In third grade, Warhol had St. Vitus' dance, a nervous system disease that causes involuntary movements of the extremities, which is believed to be a complication of scarlet fever and causes skin pigmentation blotchiness. He became somewhat of a hypochondriac, developing a fear of hospitals and doctors. Often bed-ridden as a child, he became an outcast among his school-mates and bonded strongly with his mother.When in bed he drew, listened to the radio and collected pictures of movie stars around his bed. Warhol later described this period as very important in the development of his personality, skill-set and preferences

Early career

Warhol showed early artistic talent and studied commercial art at the School of Fine Arts at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh (now Carnegie Mellon University). In 1949, he moved to New York City and began a successful career in magazine illustration and advertising. During the 1950s, he gained fame for his whimsical ink drawings of shoe advertisements. These were done in a loose, blotted ink style, and figured in some of his earliest showings in New York at the Bodley Gallery. With the concurrent rapid expansion of the record industry and the introduction of the vinyl record, Hi-Fi, and stereophonic recordings, RCA Records hired Warhol, along with another freelance artist, Sid Maurer, to design album covers and promotional materials.

The 1960s

His first one-man gallery exhibition as a fine artist was on July 9, 1962, in the Ferus Gallery of Los Angeles, California. The exhibition marked the West Coast debut of pop art. Andy Warhol's first New York solo Pop exhibit was hosted at Eleanor Ward's Stable Gallery November 6-24, 1962. The exhibit included the works Marilyn Diptych, 100 Soup Cans, 100 Coke Bottles and 100 Dollar Bills. At the Stable Gallery exhibit the artist met for the first time John Giorno who would star in Warhol's first film, Sleep, in 1963.^{[citation needed]}

It was during the 1960s that Warhol began to make paintings of iconic American products such as Campbell's Soup Cans from the Campbell Soup Company and Coca-Cola bottles, as well as paintings of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Troy Donahue, and Elizabeth Taylor. He founded "The Factory," his studio during these years, and gathered around himself a wide range of artists, writers, musicians, and underground celebrities. He began producing prints using the silkscreen method. His work became popular and controversial.

Among the imagery tackled by Warhol were dollar bills, celebrities and brand name products. He also used as imagery for his paintings newspaper headlines of photographs of mushroom clouds, electric chairs, and police dogs attacking civil rights protesters. Warhol also used Coca Cola bottles as subject matter for paintings. He had this to say about Coca Cola:

What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.

New York's Museum of Modern Art hosted a Symposium on pop art in December 1962 during which artists like Warhol were attacked for "capitulating" to consumerism. Critics were scandalized by Warhol's open embrace of market culture. This symposium set the tone for Warhol's reception. Throughout the decade it became more and more clear that there had been a profound change in the culture of the art world, and that Warhol was at the center of that shift.

A pivotal event was the 1964 exhibit The American Supermarket, a show held in Paul Bianchini's Upper East Side gallery. The show was presented as a typical U.S. small supermarket environment, except that everything in it from the produce, canned goods, meat, posters on the wall, etc. were created by six prominent pop artists of the time including the controversial (and like-minded) Billy Apple, Mary Inman, and Robert Watts. Warhol's painting of a can of Campbell's soup cost $1,500 while each autographed can sold for $6. The exhibit was one of the first mass events that directly confronted the general public with both pop art and the perennial question of what is art.

Andy Warhol and fellow pop artist Billy Apple show their "products" during the 1964 show The American Supermarket.

As an advertisement illustrator in the 1950s, Warhol used assistants to increase his productivity. Collaboration would remain a defining (and controversial) aspect of his working methods throughout his career; in the 1960s, however, this was particularly true. One of the most important collaborators during this period was Gerard Malanga. Malanga assisted the artist with producing silkscreens, films, sculpture, and other works at "The Factory", Warhol's aluminum foil-and-silver-paint-lined studio on 47th Street (later moved to Broadway). Other members of Warhol's Factory crowd included Freddie Herko, Ondine, Ronald Tavel, Mary Woronov, Billy Name, and Brigid Berlin (from whom he apparently got the idea to tape record his phone conversations).

During the 60s, Warhol also groomed a retinue of bohemian eccentrics upon whom he bestowed the designation "Superstars", including Edie Sedgwick, Viva, and Ultra Violet. These people all participated in the Factory films, and some, like Berlin, remained friends with Warhol until his death. Important figures in the New York underground art/cinema world, such as writer John Giorno and film-maker Jack Smith, also appear in Warhol films of the 1960s, revealing Warhol's connections to a diverse range of artistic scenes during this period. By the end of the decade, Andy Warhol was himself a celebrity, appearing frequently in newspapers and magazines alongside Factory cohorts like Sedgwick.

Shooting

On June 3, 1968, Valerie Solanas shot Warhol and art critic and curator Mario Amaya at Warhol's studio.

Before the shooting, Solanas had been a marginal figure in the Factory scene. She founded a "group" called S.C.U.M. (Society for Cutting Up Men) and authored the S.C.U.M. Manifesto, a separatist feminist attack on patriarchy. Over the years, Solanas' manifesto has found a following. Solanas appears in the 1968 Warhol film I, A Man. Earlier on the day of the attack, Solanas had been turned away from the Factory after asking for the return of a script she had given to Warhol. The script, apparently, had been misplaced.

Amaya received only minor injuries and was released from the hospital later the same day. Warhol however, was seriously wounded by the attack and barely survived (doctors opened his chest and massaged his heart to help stimulate its movement again). He suffered physical effects for the rest of his life. The shooting had a profound effect on Warhol's life and art.

Solanas was arrested the day after the assault. By way of explanation, she said that "He had too much control over my life," following which she was eventually sentenced to 3 years under the control of the department of corrections. After the shooting, the Factory scene became much more tightly controlled, and for many this event brought the "Factory 60s" to an end.

The shooting was mostly overshadowed in the media due to the murder of Robert F. Kennedy two days later.

Warhol had this to say about the attack: "Before I was shot, I always thought that I was more half-there than all-there. I always suspected that I was watching TV instead of living life."^[14]

The 1970s

Compared to the success and scandal of Warhol's work in the 1960s, the 1970s would prove a much quieter decade, as Warhol became more entrepreneurial. According to Bob Colacello, Warhol devoted much of his time to rounding up new, rich patrons for portrait commissions – including Mick Jagger, Liza Minnelli, John Lennon, Diana Ross, Brigitte Bardot, and Michael Jackson.^{[citation needed]} Warhol's famous portrait of Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong was created in 1973. He also founded, with Gerard Malanga, Interview magazine, and published The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1975). An idea expressed in the book: "Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art.

Warhol used to socialize at various nightspots in New York City, including Max's Kansas City, Serendipity 3 and, later in the '70s, Studio 54. He was generally regarded as quiet, shy, and a meticulous observer. Art critic Robert Hughes called him "the white mole of Union Square.

The 1980s

Warhol had a re-emergence of critical and financial success in the 1980s, partially due to his affiliation and friendships with a number of prolific younger artists, who were dominating the "bull market" of '80s New York art: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, David Salle and other so-called Neo-Expressionists, as well as members of the Transavantgarde movement in Europe, including Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi.

By this period, Warhol was being criticized for becoming merely a "business artist."^[17] In 1979 unfavorable reviews met his exhibits of portraits of 1970s personalities and celebrities, calling them superficial, facile and commercial, with no depth or indication of the significance of the subjects. This criticism was echoed for his 1980 exhibit of ten portraits at the Jewish Museum in New York, entitled Jewish Geniuses, which Warhol, who exhibited no interest in Judaism or matters of interest to Jews, had described in his diary as "They're going to sell.

In hindsight, however, some critics have come to view Warhol's superficiality and commerciality as "the most brilliant mirror of our times," contending that "Warhol had captured something irresistible about the zeitgeist of American culture in the 1970s.

Warhol also had an appreciation for intense Hollywood glamour. He once said: "I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They're so beautiful. Everything's plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.

Religious beliefs

Images of Jesus from The Last Supper cycle (1986). Warhol made almost 100 variations on the theme, which the Guggenheim felt "indicates an almost obsessive investment in the subject matter.

Warhol was a practicing member of the Byzantine Rite Ruthenian Catholic Church. He regularly volunteered at homeless shelters in New York, particularly during the busier times of the year, and described himself as a religious person. Several of Warhol's later works depicted religious subjects, including two series, Details of Renaissance Paintings (1984) and The Last Supper (1986). In addition, a body of religious-themed works was found posthumously in his estate.^[26]

During his life, Warhol regularly attended Mass, and the priest at Warhol's church, Saint Vincent's, said that the artist went there almost daily.^[26] His art is noticeably influenced by the eastern Christian iconographic tradition which was so evident in his places of worship.^{[citation needed]}

Warhol's brother has described the artist as "really religious, but he didn't want people to know about that because [it was] private." Despite the private nature of his faith, in Warhol's eulogy John Richardson depicted it as devout: "To my certain knowledge, he was responsible for at least one conversion. He took considerable pride in financing his nephew's studies for the priesthood.

Death

Warhol died in New York City at 6:32 a.m. on February 22, 1987. According to news reports, he had been making good recovery from a routine gallbladder surgery at New York Hospital before dying in his sleep from a sudden post-operative cardiac arrhythmia.Prior to his diagnosis and operation, Warhol delayed having his recurring gallbladder problems checked, as he was afraid to enter hospitals and see doctors.

Warhol's grave at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery

Warhol's body was taken back to Pittsburgh by his brothers for burial. The wake was at Thomas P. Kunsak Funeral Home and was an open-coffin ceremony. The coffin was a solid bronze casket with gold plated rails and white upholstery. Warhol wore a black cashmere suit, a paisley tie, a platinum wig, and sunglasses. He was holding a small prayer book and a red rose. The funeral liturgy was held at the Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church on Pittsburgh's North Side. The eulogy was given by Monsignor Peter Tay. Yoko Ono also made an appearance. The coffin was covered with white roses and asparagus ferns. After the liturgy, the coffin was driven to St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery in Bethel Park, a south suburb of Pittsburgh. At the grave, the priest said a brief prayer and sprinkled holy water on the casket. Before the coffin was lowered, Paige Powell dropped a copy of Interview magazine, an Interview t-shirt, and a bottle of the Estee Lauder perfume "Beautiful" into the grave. Warhol was buried next to his mother and father. Weeks later a memorial service was held in Manhattan for Warhol on April 1, 1987 at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York.

Warhol's will dictated that his entire estate, with the exception of a few modest legacies to family members, would go to create a foundation dedicated to the "advancement of the visual arts." Warhol had so many possessions that it took Sotheby's nine days to auction his estate after his death; the auction grossed more than US$20 million. His total estate was worth considerably more, in no small part due to shrewd investments over the years.

In 1987, in accordance for Warhol's will, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts was founded. The Foundation not only serves as the official Estate of Andy Warhol, but it also has a mission "to foster innovative artistic expression and the creative process" and is "focused primarily on supporting work of a challenging and often experimental nature.

The Artists Rights Society is the U.S. copyright representative for the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for all Warhol works with the exception of Warhol film stills. The U.S. copyright representative for Warhol film stills is the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.Additionally, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has agreements in place for their image archive. All digital images of Warhol are exclusively managed by Corbis, while all transparency images of Warhol are managed by Art Resource.

The Andy Warhol Foundation released its 20th Anniversary Annual Report as a three-volume set in 2007: Vol. I, 1987-2007; Vol. II, Grants & Exhibitions; and Vol. III, Legacy Program.The Foundation remains one of the largest grant-giving organizations for the visual arts in the U.S.

STREET BALL

2009-02-25T01:51:00.000-08:00

Streetball is a less formal variant of basketball, played on playgrounds and in gymnasiums across the world. Often only one half of the court is used, but otherwise the rules of the game are very similar to those of basketball. The number of participants in a game, or a run, may range from one defender and one attacker (known as one on one) to two full teams of five each.
Streetball is a very popular game worldwide, and some cities in the United States have organized streetball programs, such as midnight basketball, as a way for young people to keep out of trouble and avoid problems such as juvenile crime and drugs. Many cities also host their own weekend-long streetball tournaments. Hoop-It-Up and the Houston Rockets' Blacktop Battle are two of the most popular. In recent years, streetball has seen an increase in media exposure through television shows such as ESPN's "Streetball" and "City Slam", as well as traveling exhibitions such as the AND1 Mixtape Tour and Ball4Real.

Rules and features

While the rules of Streetball are generally the same as normal basketball, Streetball places a higher emphasis on one-on-one matchups between the offense and defender. Often the attacker will perform numerous flashy moves while attempting to drive to the basket, including crossovers, jab steps, and other fake-out tricks. Streetball often features spectacular dunks and alley oops, impressive ball handling, and trash talki ng.
Rules vary widely from court to court. Almost invariably a "call your own foul" rule is in effect, and a player who believes he has been fouled, simply needs to call out "Foul!" or "And 1!", and play will be stopped, with the ball awarded to the fouled player's team. If a foul has been called during or after a shot has been taken the call will be ignored and the shot will be counted if the player makes the basket. The etiquette of what rightly constitutes a foul, as well as the permissible amount of protestation against such a call, are the products of individual groups, and of the seriousness of a particular game.
A common feature to Streetball is the 'pick up game'. To participate in most streetball games across the world one simply goes to an outdoor court where people are playing, indicate a wish to participate, and once all the players who were at the court before you have played you will get to pick your team out of the players available and play a game. Many games play up to 7, 11, 15 or 21 points with all baskets counting as one point (sometimes shots beyond the 3 point arc count as 2 points). Players often play 'win by 2' which, as in tennis, means that the team has to win by a margin of at least 2 points. Sometimes a local "dead end" limit applies; for instance a game may be played to 7, win by 2, with a 9 point dead end, which would mean scores of 7-5, 8-6, 9-7, or 9-8, would all be final; while with scores of 7-6 or 8-7, play would continue. The most common streetball game is 3 on 3 played half court though often 5 on 5 full court can be found.
Sometimes in a half-court game, a "make it, take it" rule is followed. This means that if a team scores, they get the ball again on offense. So one team could end up never getting the ball on offense if the "winners" never miss a shot. Full court basketball is not played with these rules. But in most instances, the winning team gets to choose which basketball and usually which direction (which basket) they get to use.
An unusual streetball feature is having an "MC" call the game. The MC is on the court during the game and is often very close to the players (but makes an effort to not interfere with the game) and uses a microphone to provide game commentary for the fans.

Variations

A popular variation of street basketball is 21, also known as "Hustle," "American," "St. Mary's," or "Crunch." 21 is played most often with 3-5 players on a half court, typically when not enough players have arrived at the playground to "run 3's" (play 3-on-3). However it is possible to play "21" with only two players, or more than 5. Further, in some forms, players can freely enter the game after it has begun, starting at zero points or being "spotted" the same number as the player with the lowest score. "21" is an "every player for themself" game, with highly variable rules. The rules of "21" are usually agreed by the players at the beginning of the game.
The typical rules of "21" are:
one player "breaks" to begin the game by shooting from 3 point range. Sometimes players agree that the "break" must not be a successful shot, in order to give every player an equal chance at rebounding to gain the 1st possession of the game
the normal foul rule is in effect
baskets are scored as 2's and 3's (as opposed to 1's and 2's like Streetball)
after a successful shot, the shooter can take up to three 1-point free-throws, but as soon as he misses, the ball may be rebounded by anyone; meanwhile if he makes all three shots, he then gets to keep the ball and check up at the top of the arc
after any change of possession, the ball should be cleared past the 3 point line (or at times just out of the key)
in order to win, a player must make exactly 21 points; if he goes over then he restarts back at either 13 or 11 points, depending on the rules in use
whoever wins the game starts with the ball at the beginning of the next game
only serious fouls are called (commonly referred to as "No blood, no foul")
other typical basketball rules, such as out-of-bounds are also frequently ignored
Common additional rules include:
a player can attempt a 3-pointer in lieu of attempting three free-throws
if a missed shot is "tipped in" by another player without their feet touching the ground, then the shooter's score reverts to zero (or thirteen if their score was over thirteen); this rule may not apply on free-throws
if a player who has 13 points misses their next shot, regardless of whether it is a free-throw, then their points revert to zero. This is referred to as "poison points"
whoever wins the game must shoot a three-pointer in order to start with the ball at the beginning of the next game; if he makes it, he gets the three points, but doesn't have to take free-throws, and starts with the ball
players with less than 13 points at the end of a game keep their points into the next game (a sort of handicap system for when there is a wide variation in skill amongst the players)
"21" is considered a very challenging game, especially because the offensive player must go up against several defenders at the same time. For this reason, it is exceedingly difficult to "drive to the hole" and make lay-ups in "21." Therefore, and also because of the emphasis on free-throws, "21" is very much a shooter's game, and because a successful shot means you keep the ball, it is possible for there to be come-backs when a player recovers from a large deficit by not missing any shots (this can also result in failure when they miss their final free-throw at 20 points and revert back to 13).
"21" is popular because it allows an odd number of people to play, unlike regular basketball or other variants.
Another less common streetball variant, often referred to as "Boston," results in essentially a one-on-one (or sometimes two-on-two) tournament between any number of players. Each match is played following normal one-on-one rules, including violations (such as fouls and out-of-bounds) to just one point. The winner remains on the court and gets to take the ball out while the loser returns to the end of the line of players waiting to step on the court. The first player to win a set number of matches (usually 7 or 11) wins the game.

Variations

The typical rules of "21" are:

one player "breaks" to begin the game by shooting from 3 point range. Sometimes players agree that the "break" must not be a successful shot, in order to give every player an equal chance at rebounding to gain the 1st possession of the game
the normal foul rule is in effect
baskets are scored as 2's and 3's (as opposed to 1's and 2's like Streetball)
after a successful shot, the shooter can take up to three 1-point free-throws, but as soon as he misses, the ball may be rebounded by anyone; meanwhile if he makes all three shots, he then gets to keep the ball and check up at the top of the arc
after any change of possession, the ball should be cleared past the 3 point line (or at times just out of the key)
in order to win, a player must make exactly 21 points; if he goes over then he restarts back at either 13 or 11 points, depending on the rules in use
whoever wins the game starts with the ball at the beginning of the next game
only serious fouls are called (commonly referred to as "No blood, no foul")
other typical basketball rules, such as out-of-bounds are also frequently ignored

Common additional rules include:

a player can attempt a 3-pointer in lieu of attempting three free-throws
if a missed shot is "tipped in" by another player without their feet touching the ground, then the shooter's score reverts to zero (or thirteen if their score was over thirteen); this rule may not apply on free-throws
if a player who has 13 points misses their next shot, regardless of whether it is a free-throw, then their points revert to zero. This is referred to as "poison points"
whoever wins the game must shoot a three-pointer in order to start with the ball at the beginning of the next game; if he makes it, he gets the three points, but doesn't have to take free-throws, and starts with the ball
players with less than 13 points at the end of a game keep their points into the next game (a sort of handicap system for when there is a wide variation in skill amongst the players)

"21" is considered a very challenging game, especially because the offensive player must go up against several defenders at the same time. For this reason, it is exceedingly difficult to "drive to the hole" and make lay-ups in "21." Therefore, and also because of the emphasis on free-throws, "21" is very much a shooter's game, and because a successful shot means you keep the ball, it is possible for there to be come-backs when a player recovers from a large deficit by not missing any shots (this can also result in failure when they miss their final free-throw at 20 points and revert back to 13).

"21" is popular because it allows an odd number of people to play, unlike regular basketball or other variants.

Another less common streetball variant, often referred to as "Boston," results in essentially a one-on-one (or sometimes two-on-two) tournament between any number of players. Each match is played following normal one-on-one rules, including violations (such as fouls and out-of-bounds) to just one point. The winner remains on the court and gets to take the ball out while the loser returns to the end of the line of players waiting to step on the court. The first player to win a set number of matches (usually 7 or 11) wins the game.

Major organized streetball crews

Streetball is often generalized as a "pick-up game", where players may or may not know one another, and is for the most part recreational. But recent years has seen the rise of organized streetball crews, such as AND1. With AND1 setting the precedent, many crews train as a team specifically for streetball and often play in exhibitions. Some crews present slickly produced videos and DVDs for sale or available online displaying highlights, dunks, and tricks. Streetball teams like Ruff Ryders, Terror Squad, and others which compete in summer leagues, such as EBC, tend to play a more "serious" game with less tricks, as the games are not exhibitions.

SKATEBOARD (what is and it history)

2009-01-22T02:27:00.000-08:00

A skateboard is a four wheeled piece of wood used for the activity of skateboarding.Skateboard originated in California in the 1970's. It is propelled by pushing with one foot while the other remains on the board, or by pumping in structures such as a pool or halfpipe. A skateboard can also be used by simply standing on the deck while on a downward slope and allowing gravity to propel the board and rider. There is no governing body which declares any regulations on what constitutes a skateboard or the parts from which it is assembled. Longboards are a type of skateboard with a longer wheelbase and larger and softer wheels.

history

There is no definitive origin or inventor of the skateboard. One proposed origin is that skateboards arose in the 1930s and 1940s, when children would participate in soapbox races, using soap-boxes attached to wooden planks on rollerskate wheels. When the soap-box became detached from the plank, children would ride these primitive "skateboards". Another suggests that the skateboard was created directly from the adaptation of a single roller skate taken apart and nailed to a 2x4, without the soapbox at all and that it was often surfers looking to recreate the feel of surfing on the land when the surf was flat.
Retail skateboards were first marketed in 1958 by Bill and Mark Richard of Dana Point, California. They attached roller skate wheels from the Chicago Roller Skate Company to a plank of wood and sold them in their Val Surf Shops.The skateboard has evolved since the first mass produced models in the 1960s. Boards in the past were often made in the shape of a surfboard, with no concavity and constructed of solid wood, plastic, even metal. The wheels were usually made of a clay composite, or steel and the trucks (axles) were less sturdy and initially of a 'single-action' design compared to today's 'double-action'.

parts

Descriptions of the following skateboard parts are the ones most prevalent in popular, modern forms of skateboarding. Many niche disciplines exist with exotic or alternative constructions and designs that fall outside of much of the descriptions listed.

deck

Most decks are constructed with a seven to nine-ply cross-laminated layup of Canadian maple. Other materials used in deck construction, fiberglass, bamboo jake, resin, Kevlar, carbon fiber, aluminum, and plastic, lighten the board or increase its strength or rigidity. Modern decks vary in size, but most are 7 to 10.5 inches wide. Wider decks can be used for greater stability when transition or ramp skating. Skateboard decks are usually between 28 and 33 inches long. The underside of the deck can be printed with a design by the manufacturer, blank, or decorated by any other means.
The longboard, a common variant of the skateboard, has a longer deck. "Old school" boards (those made in the 1970s-80s or modern boards that mimic their shape) are generally wider and often have only one kicktail. 1970s variants often have little or no concavity, whereas 1980s models have deeper concavities and steeper kicktails.
Grip tape, when applied to the top surface of a skateboard, gives a skater's feet more grip on the deck. It has an adhesive back and a sandpaper like top.

trucks

Attached to the deck are two metal (usually aluminum alloy) trucks, which connect to the wheels and deck. The trucks are further composed of two parts. The top part of the truck is screwed to the deck and is called the baseplate, and beneath it is the hanger. The axle runs through the hanger. Between the baseplate and the hanger are bushings, also rubbers or grommets, that provide the cushion mechanism for turning the skateboard. The bushings cushion the truck when it turns. The stiffer the bushings, the more resistant the skateboard is to turning. The softer the bushings, the easier it is to turn. A bolt called a kingpin holds these parts together and fits inside the bushings. Thus by tightening or loosening the kingpin nut, the trucks can be adjusted loosely for better turning and tighter for more control.
Longboard specific trucks are a more recent development. A longboard truck has the king pin laid at a more acute angle (usually between 38 and 42 degrees) to the deck, this gives a lesser degree of turning for the same tilt of the deck. This adds stability and allows riders to go much faster while still maintaining stability and control.

wheels

The wheels of a skateboard, usually made of polyurethane, come in many different sizes and shapes to suit different types of skating. Larger sizes like 65-90 mm roll faster, and also move more easily over cracks in pavement. Smaller sizes like 48-54 mm keep the board closer to the ground, require less force to accelerate and produce a lower center of gravity, but also make for a slower top speed. Wheels also are available in a variety of hardnesses usually measured on the durometer 'A' scale. Wheels range from the very soft (about 75a) to the very hard (about 101a). As the scale stops at 100a, any wheels labelled 101a or higher are harder, but do not use the appropriate durometer scale. Some wheel manufacturers now use the 'B' or 'D' scale, which has a larger and more accurate range of hardness.
Modern street skaters prefer smaller wheels (usually 45-53 mm), as small wheels can make tricks like kickflips and ollies easier. Street wheels are often quite hard as this allows the wheels to 'break away' from the ground easier. Vert skating requires larger wheels (usually 55-65 mm) as vert skating involves higher speeds. Vert wheels are also usually very hard which helps with maintaining speed on ramps. Slalom skating requires even larger wheels (60-75 mm) to sustain the highest speeds possible. They also need to be soft and have better grip to make the tight and frequent turns in slalom racing. Even larger wheels are used in longboarding and downhill skateboarding. Sizes range from 65 mm right up to 100 mm. These extreme sizes of wheels almost always have cores of hard plastic that can be made thinner and lighter than a solid polyurethane wheel. They are often used by skateboard videographers as well, as the large soft wheels allow for smooth and easy movement over any terrain.

bearings

Each skateboard wheel is mounted on its axle via two ball bearings. With few exceptions, the bearings are the industrial standard "608" size, with a bore of 8 mm, an outer diameter of 22 mm, and a width of 7 mm. These are usually made of steel, though silicon nitride, a high-tech ceramic, is sometimes used. Many skateboard bearings are graded according to the ABEC scale. The scale starts with ABEC1 as the lowest, 3, 5, 7, 9. It is a common misconception that higher numbers are better for skateboarding, as the ABEC rating only measures tolerances which do not necessarily apply to skateboards. The ABEC rating does not determine how fast or how durable a bearing used for skateboarding will be. In particular, the ABEC rating says nothing about how well a bearing handles axial (side-to-side) loads, which are severe in most skateboard applications. Many companies do not show the ABEC rating, such as Bones Bearings, who makes bearings specifically for skateboarding.

hardware

Mounting hardware is a set of eight 10-32 bolts, usually an allen or cross head, and matching self-lock nylock nuts. They are used to attach the trucks to the board. Some have a different colored bolt to show which side is the nose of the skateboard.

another components

Rails
Narrow strips of plastic or metal that are fastened under the deck lengthwise along the edges. They are used for additional grip for grabs, and to enhance sliding while protecting the deck's graphics at the same time.

Slip Tape
Slip tape is a clear piece of self adhesive plastic that sticks to the underside of a deck. It helps protect the board's graphics and can allow the board to slide better.

Lapper
A lapper is a plastic cover that is fastened to the rear truck and serves to protect the kingpin when grinding. It also prevents hang-ups by providing a smoother transition for the truck when it hits an obstacle or a metal pipe or bar used to grind.

Nose guard
A plastic bumper used to protect the front of a skateboard.

Tail guard
A tail guard is a plastic skid plate used to prevent wearing of the tail; they can also be used as a means to stop the board on old school boards.

Angled risers
Angled riser, or a milk dud are risers that alter the turning geometry of the truck they are bolted to. A thin side out results in more turn per board lean, thick side out results in less.

URBAN TOY'S

2009-01-20T03:24:00.000-08:00

Urban Toys untuk pertama kalinya diperkenalkan oleh orang-orang Jepang dan Hongkong, dan mulai berkembang pada tahun 90an-akhir ke kawasan lainnya (Eropa, US), banyak desainer desainer dari barat juga akhirnya terlibat dalam keasikan membuat mainan ini, karena mungkin fleksibilitas dan adaptasi dari benda ini yang sangat luar biasa, sehingga sewaktu waktu benda ini bisa berubah menjadi apapun, dan dan dapat di silangkan, atau dikawinkan dengan tokoh tokoh yang sudah ada, dan popular (Superhero, Corak Bendera Negara, atau malah art sekalipun).
Beberapa nama yang telah mendunia seperti Bearbrick, Qee dari Toy2are, Palyimaginative, Kaws dari original fake, Kid robot sampai Desainer James Jarvis, Garry Baseman dan seniman sablon terkenal seperti Frank Kozik pun ikut terlibat didalam dunia mainan yang diperuntukan untuk orang dewasa ini, saat ini beberapa perusahaan besar seperti NIKE, ODM, atau Motorolla, Sonny Ericsson telah mempergunakan mainan ini untuk alat brandingnya. Karena mainan adalah sebuah benda yang sangat akrab dengan kehidupan manusia.
Urban toys biasanya dibuat dari plastik, dibuat secara terbatas dari mulai 500 sampai 2000 pcs per designnya, tetapi pada awalnya untuk model prototype awal dan limited series dibuat dari resin. Ada juga yang terbuat dari kayu karet dll, Sebagian orang mengungkapkan bahwa urban toys merupakan sebuah penganti kanvas bagi seorang seniman untuk mengekspresikan feeling seninya ke dalam sebuah karya.
Biasanya urban vinyl toys dibuat dalam 3 versi, yag pertama adalah versi asli original yang dikeluarkan oleh team desainernya, lalu ada yang memakai desainer tamu untuk mendesain mainannya, dan versi DIY Series, Blank atau Plain, hal ini dimaksudkan untuk memberikan bagi siapapun sebenarnya dapat mendesain mainan ini menurut versinya sendiri, karena didesain oleh desainer tamu biasanya mainan tersebut malah bertambah nilainya atau harganya, dengan tema yang berubah juga.
Bearbrick buatan MEDICOM Jepang merupakan sebuah contoh yang cukup sukses memasarkan karya karyanya, sekarang Bearbrick tidak hanya dijual di toko mainan biasa, tetapi sampai toko interiorpun menjual mainan ini, dan mereka mencantumkan keterangan tulisan “For Adult” 15+, pada packagingnya
Selain menjadi sebuah media seni baru, dan komoditas baru, tetap Urban toys berada pada daerah Seni atau Art, karena ketidakjelasan karakter yang dibentuk pada sebuah urban toys kadang tidak jelas dia bukan seekor binatang, bukan pula manusia, dan sehingga bisa dikatakan bahwa ini adalah sebuah X, X dimaksud adalah tidak jelas dan secara visual sudah sangat blur, sehingga orang bertanya apa ini, atau binatang apa mahluk hidup lain.atau malah ini apa sih, sehingga kadang dirasa sangat sangat mengganggu karena ketidak jelasannya
Dan secara teori jelas mainan atau toys merupakan sebuah patung atau artefak (ciri khas secara 3D) tahun 2000an, ini jelas terasa kalau kita bandingkan dengan patung patung yang menjadi artefak sebuah tanda jaman.

LEGEND (BANKSY PART 2)

2009-01-11T02:41:00.000-08:00

2004
In August 2004, Banksy produced a quantity of spoof British £10 notes substituting the picture of the Queen's head with Princess Diana's head and changing the text "Bank of England" to "Banksy of England." Someone threw a large wad of these into a crowd at Notting Hill Carnival that year, which some recipients then tried to spend in local shops. These notes were also given with invitations to a picturesonwalls.com Santas Ghetto exhibition. The individual notes have since been selling on eBay for about £200 each. A Limited run of 50 signed posters containing 10 uncut notes were also produced and sold by pictures on walls for £100 each to commemorate the death of Princess Diana. One of these sold in October 2007 at Bonhams auction house in London for £24,000.

2006
Banksy held an exhibition called Barely Legal, billed as a "three day vandalised warehouse extravaganza" in Los Angeles, on the weekend of 16 September. The exhibition featured a live "elephant in a room", painted in a pink and gold floral wallpaper pattern.After Christina Aguilera bought an original of Queen Victoria as a lesbian and two prints for £25,000, on 19 October 2006 a set of Kate Moss paintings sold in Sotheby's London for £50,400, setting an auction record for Banksy's work. The six silk-screen prints, featuring the model painted in the style of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe pictures, sold for five times their estimated value. His stencil of a green Mona Lisa with real paint dripping from her eyes sold for £57,600 at the same auction.

2007
On 7 February 2007, Sotheby's auction house in London auctioned three works, reaching the highest ever price for a Banksy work at auction: over £102,000 for his Bombing Middle England. Two of his other graffiti works, Balloon Girl and Bomb Hugger, sold for £37,200 and £31,200 respectively, which were well above their estimated prices. The following day's auction saw a further three Banksy works reach soaring prices. Ballerina With Action Man Parts reached £96,000; Glory sold for £72,000; Untitled (2004) sold for £33,600 - all prices being significantly above estimated values. To coincide with the second day of auctions, Banksy updated his website with a new image of an auction house scene showing people bidding on a picture that said, "I Can't Believe You Morons Actually Buy This Shit."In February 2007, the owners of a house with a Banksy mural on the side in Bristol decided to sell the house through Red Propeller art gallery after offers fell through because the prospective buyers wanted to remove the mural. It is listed as a mural which comes with a house attached.

Banksy on Pulp Fiction. Image since removed by graffiti cleanup crews.

Banksy on Pulp Fiction again.
In April 2007, Transport for London painted over Banksy's iconic image of a scene from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas instead of guns. Although the image was very popular, Transport for London claimed that the "graffiti" created a general atmosphere of neglect and social decay which in turn encourages crime.On 27 April 2007, a new record high for the sale of Banksy's work was set with the auction of the work 'Space Girl & Bird' fetching £288,000 (US$576,000), around 20 times the estimate at Bonhams of London.On 21 May 2007 Banksy gained the award for Art's Greatest living Briton. Banksy, as expected, did not turn up to collect his award, and continued with his notoriously anonymous status.
On 4 June 2007, it was reported that Banksy's The Drinker had been stolen.
In October 2007, most of his works offered for sale at Bonhams auction house in London sold for more than twice their reserve price.Banksy made a tribute art piece over his famous Pulp Fiction piece. The tribute was for 19-year-old British graffiti artist OZONE, who was hit by an underground train in Barking, East London, along with fellow artist WIZE, on 12 January 2007. The piece was of an angel wearing a bullet-proof vest, holding a skull. He also wrote a note on his website, saying:
The last time I hit this spot I painted a crap picture of two men in banana costumes waving hand guns. A few weeks later a writer called Ozone completely dogged it and then wrote 'If it's better next time I'll leave it' in the bottom corner.When we lost Ozone we lost a fearless graffiti writer and as it turns out a pretty perceptive art critic.Ozone - rest in peace. Ozone's Angel. Banksy has published a "manifesto" on his website. The text of the manifesto is credited as the diary entry of one Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin, DSO, which is exhibited in the Imperial War Museum. It describes how a shipment of lipstick to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp immediately after its liberation at the end of World War II helped the internees regain their humanity. However, as of 18 January 2008, Banksy's Manifesto has been substituted with Graffiti Heroes #03 that describes Peter Chappell's graffiti quest of the 1970s that worked to free George Davis of his imprisonment.A small number of Banksy's works can be seen in the movie Children of Men, including a stenciled image of two policemen kissing and another stencil of a child looking down a shop.
In the 2007 film Shoot 'Em Up starring Clive Owen, Banksy's tag can be seen on a dumpster in the film's credits.
Banksy, who deals mostly with Lazarides Gallery in London, claims that the exhibition at Vanina Holasek Gallery in New York (his first major exhibition in that city) is unauthorized. The show featured 62 of his paintings and prints.
2008
Over the weekend 3-5 May in London, Banksy hosted an exhibition called The Cans Festival. It was situated on Leake Street, a road tunnel formerly used by Eurostar underneath London Waterloo station. Graffiti artists with stencils were invited to join in and paint their own artwork, as long as it didn't cover anyone else's. Artists included Blek le Rat, Broken Crow, C215, Cartrain, Dolk, Dotmasters, J.Glover, Eine, Eelus, Hero, Pure evil, and Tom Civil.[citation needed]

Work on building in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, August 2008
In late August 2008, marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the associated levee failure disaster, Banksy produced a series of works in New Orleans, Louisiana (mostly on buildings derelict since the disaster).A stencil painting attributed to Banksy appeared at a vacant petrol station in the Ensley neighbourhood of Birmingham, Alabama on August 29 as Hurricane Gus tav approached the New Orleans area. The painting depicting a hooded member of the Ku Klux Klan hanging from a noose was quickly covered with black spray paint and later removed altogether.His first official exhibition in New York, the "Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill," opened October 5, 2008. The animatronic pets in the store window include a mother hen watching over her baby Chicken McNuggets as they peck at a barbecue sauce packet, and a rabbit putting makeup on in a mirror.One nation under CCTV.The Westminster City Council stated in October 2008 that the work "One Nation Under CCTV", painted in April 2008 will be painted over as it is graffiti. The council says it will remove any graffiti, regardless of the reputation of its creator, and specifically stated that Banksy has no more right to paint graffiti than a child.In December 2008 a Banksy image of a diver in a duffle coat in Melbourne Australia was vandalised. The image was protected by a sheet of clear perspex, however silver paint was poured behind the protective sheet and then tagged with the words "Banksy woz ere".

It is thought the image is destroyed .

STREET ART

2009-01-04T04:01:00.001-08:00

Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to art of an illicit nature, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives. The term can include traditional graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti, st icker art, wheatpasting and street poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, flash mobbing and street installations. Typically, the term Street Art or the more specific Post-Graffiti is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.

Owl, Mezer, Moss. Venice Beach, Ca.
The motivations and objectives that drive street artists are as varied as the artists themselves. There is a strong current of activism and sub version in urban art. Street art can be a powerful platform for reaching the public, and frequent themes include adbusting, subvertising and other culture jamming, the abolishment of private property and reclaiming the streets. Other street artists simply see urban space as an untapped format for personal artwork, while others may appreciate the challenges and risks that are associated with installing illicit artwork in public places. However the universal theme in most, if not all street art, is that adapting visual artwork into a format which utilizes public space, allows artists who may otherwise feel disenfranchised, to reach a much broader audience than traditional artwork and galleries normally allow.

LEGEND'S (BANKSY)

2009-01-04T03:12:00.000-08:00

Banksy is a well-known pseudo-anonymous.British graffiti artist. He is believed to be a native of Yate, South Gloucestershire, near Bristol and to have been born in 1974,but there is substantial public uncertainty about his identity and personal and biographical details.According to Tristan Manco, Banksy "was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England. The son of a photocopier engineer, he trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s."His artworks are often-satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His street art, which combines graffiti writing with a distinctive stencilling technique, is similar to Blek le Rat, who began to work with stencils in 1981 in Paris and members of the anarcho-punk band Crass who maintained a graffiti stencil campaign on the London Tube System in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His art has appeared in cities around the world. Banksy's work was born out of the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.
Banksy does not sell photos of street graffiti or mount exhibitions of screenprints in commercial galleries.Art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder. Banksy's "The Flower Chucker" is included in the feature film The Age of Stupid to represent all modern art stored in an archive after the end of the world as we know it.

his career on the world

Banksy started as a freehand graffiti artist 1992-1994 as one of Bristol's DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ), writers Kato and Tes. He was inspired by local artists and his work was part of the larger Bristol underground scene. From the start he used stencils as elements of his freehand pieces, too. In 1998 he arranged the enormous "Walls On Fire" graffiti jam along with fellow Bristol graffiti legend Inkie on the site of the future "@t Bristol" development. The weekend-long event drew artists from all over the UK and Europe, and his organisation of the event established his name within the European graffiti scene. By 2000 he had turned to the art of stencilling after realising how much less time it took to complete a "piece." He claims he changed to stencilling whilst he was hiding from the police under a train carriage, when he noticed the stencilled serial number and employing this technique soon became more widely noticed for his art around Bristol and London.
Naked Man image by Banksy, on the wall of a sexual health clinic in Park Street, Bristol. Following popular support, the City Council have decided it will be allowed to remain

Stencil on the waterline of The Thekla, an entertainment boat in central Bristol - (wider view). The image of Death is based on a 19th century etching illustrating the pestilence of The Great Stink

In late 2001, on a trip to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, he met up with the Gen-X pastellist, visual activist, and recluse James DeWeaver in Byron Bay, where he stenciled a parachuting rat with clothes pin on nose above a toilet at the Arts Factory Lodge. This stencil can no longer be located. He also makes stickers (the Neighbourhood Watch subvert) and sculpture (the murdered phonebox), and was responsible for the cover art of Blur's 2003 album Think Tank.

2002

On 19 July 2002, Banksy's first Los Angeles show debuted at 33 1/3 Gallery, a small Silverlake venue owned by Frank Sosa. The show, entitled Existencilism, was curated by 33 1/3 Gallery, Malathion, Funk Lazy Promotions, and B+.

2003

In 2003 in a show called "Turf War", held in a warehouse, Banksy painted on animals. Although the RSPCA declared the conditions suitable, an animal rights activist chained herself to the railings in protest.[16] He later moved on to producing subverted paintings; one example is Monet's Water Lily Pond, adapted to include urban detritus such as litter and a shopping trolley floating in its reflective waters; another is Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, redrawn to show that the characters are looking at a British football hooligan, dressed only in his Union Flag underpants, who has just thrown an object through the glass window of the cafe. These oil paintings were shown at a twelve day exhibition in Westbourne Grove, London in 2005.

"just waiting this will be continue"