Andrew Schoultz, artist and sculpture, focusing on both huge installations and tiny, meticulous details in his work, has just built a fully skateable art park. We got chatting, and he’s got some pretty nifty ideas…
Andrew your work is often complex, focusing on small details, but you’re no stranger to a massive canvas or installation, right?
Yes – this is true. It’s funny how you learn a lot about making large work from making small work, and you learn a lot about making small work from making large work.
How was it to produce something as large as the Miami skate-able art park?
I am not going to lie here. This was a huge project. Mysele and a team of 2 other guys painted this whole park in five days, and quite honestly could have kept going another week if he could. It got to the point where we were actually having a very hard time keeping people off it while we were working on it. This was a major issue. I actually almost got into a couple physical confrontations with local kids who just wanted to be punks about it. And I get it, they saw something sick to skate and wanted to skate it. They did not want to wait, and for the most part they didn’t care that it was an art project.
So who else was involved?
I designed all the ramps and obstacles, and Jason Ranft (JayRamps) and his team fabricated all of it. I gotta’ say they did it to the T.
Where did the idea come from?
My rough idea was basically to create an art installation that was skate able, and sort of based on the Public plaza, but maybe with a little more funniness going on. A year ago, I had a show in LA, called Cyclical Nature, and it was consisted of a main monument sculpture and a bunch of benches, some of which were melting into the ground.
I have always toyed with the idea of presenting things in a gallery or museum setting that look like really amazing things to potentially skate. Dave Sypniewski, from Thrasher magazine and Juxtapoz, saw this , and immediately said that we needed to do a proper skate park. And that is pretty much what set this idea forth.
Then what?
I designed this park very specifically. The obstacles for the most part are mellow. There are not like any 8 foot quarter pipes or vert walls or like 10 stair rails or any of this kind of crazy stuff there, and that was my intention. For the most part I wanted the speed of the park to be based mostly on pushing speed.
I also wanted the park to have the potential of gnarliness, but also I wanted the park to be accessible to a person who only just has the ability to ride a skateboard. Like – if you can ride a skateboard, you can still have fun cruising around the course and not like risk your life or something.
How do you feel about the finished result?
Skateparks are always a funny conversation, everyone is always a critic: this could be better or that could be different. But when you find a sick natural street spot, you’re never really criticising, you just accept it for what it is and skate it. That is also kind of what I was going for here, and for the most part, people loved it. I mean it really is something different, from the obstacles to the experience of skating it. Some of the obstacles are based on spots I skated here in LA, the benches are based on the Benches at my all time favorite skate spot: The Chicago Art Institute (RIP).
One day while I was on the treadmill, I suddenly thought “what the fuck am I doing. I should just be skateboarding.”
Well, it looks incredible. Wish we could skate it.
Thanks – it does look really amazing aesthetically, I think, but I can honestly tell you that it is super fun to skate. And so many kids came up saying the same thing. The only bummer is that I don’t live in Miami and don’t really get to skate it much. Which is a shame because the potential for crazy lines at the place is infinite. It opened Thursday December 1st and by Sunday the 4th – the place was going bananas.
How has it held up with all of that?
There was some natural skateboard wear and tear on it very quickly, which was actually the point, but there was also some unwanted graffiti that happened as well. The nature of the beast, I suppose. But there are literally so many projects in Wynwood district of Miami, where they have taken “street art”, put it up on a pedestal, and treat it all precious. There is actually a place where they have rope in front of walls and security guards making sure you don’t touch the walls and shit. How fucking disconnected could you possibly be from the root of something.
That’s a good position to have, and it must be hard when you’re taking it over your own time, energy and creativity.
Street art is in the fucking street for a reason. You can’t control its destiny. The skateable art installation is quite the opposite. Make an awesome huge interactive piece of art, for all to experience, and let them thrash it. Handle it, fucking grind it, whatever you want. Even people who don’t skate can go there and check out all the different vantage points. It’s good for people watching, and by large I think skateboarding is something really fun to watch. It’s not Like some “average joe” is gonna go hop a fence of an LA school yard to come spectate skateboarding.
My only hope is that kids have respect for it. I’m not really keen on people bombing it. A couple tags or stickers here and there, adds to the aesthetic I think. It makes it feel even more real. But big ass graffiti fill-ins are a diss, and that’s how I would take it. But you know, karma always finds its way of coming back on people who act like assholes.
Sounds like you know from personal experience?
Growing up, we had a lot of skate spots get ruined and turn into busts from people writing graffiti all over them. This sucked especially in the 90s, when spots were super limited and this is coming from someone who has written graffiti for over 30 years, almost as long as I have skated. Don’t bomb your spots kids! It is true, that a few bad apples does spoil the bunch unfortunately and whether you want to admit it, or not, bombing up spots, makes them “hot”, just like leaving your fucking empty spray cans in the train yard makes the yard “hot” as well. Grow up, handle your shit and be responsible.
So, why skateboarding?
For me, skateboarding is not a temporary thing at all. It’s a way of life, a way of thinking, and a way of looking at the world. For me, this is forever. Yeah sure, era’s in skateboarding, different scenes, skate spots, and skateboarders in their prime are a temporary thing and that is kind of the beauty. If you were there and witnessed something or got to skate a spot, or got to experience a rad scene at a particular moment in time then you are very lucky. I love that about skateboarding. It’s awesome how anyone who was around experiencing these moments with you, is kind of like connected to you forever as well.
“Ask not what skateboarding can do for you, but what you can do for skateboarding”
There were a few years a while back when I wasn’t skateboarding much. I was completely engulfed by a newly established art career, but I was still always looking at everything around me like, “that would be sick to skate” or “oh shit, this trick would be rad to do here.” One day while I was on the treadmill, I suddenly thought “what the fuck am I doing. I should just be skateboarding.” And that’s the thing: skateboarding never left me. It was there the whole time, and you know what they say – absence makes the heart grow fonder.
So you came back into it stronger from the break?
I suddenly realized what i should have known all along: Skateboarding is fun. If you are not having fun then you should not be doing it, plain and simple. It took me almost 25 years to realise this, but better late then never. To take a JFK quote and twist it up a little: “Ask not what skateboarding can do for you, but what you can do for skateboarding”
So what else can you do for skateboarding? How do you see your work and skateboarding intertwining in the future?
I do not necessarily have a conscious plan of what I can do for skateboarding, other than to keep doing it and support the people around me that are doing it as well. I am just grateful to be able to still skate at the level I am skating at and be able to have fun with it. It’s great exercise, it great for the mind, and it really keeps me in tune with the simple things in life.
As an artist living in the art world, which is highly stressful and in many ways can be very petty and superficial, skateboarding keeps me grounded. Hanging out at a spot with some young skaters, you quickly realize 9 times out of 10, they don’t care what your status is in the art world.
How does that affect the way you work in skateboarding?
It makes my approach to doing skateboard related projects autonomous. I do not have to consider any type of industry standard or who is going to criticize it. I am always looking for creative projects that involve skateboarding. Involving skateboarding in my art is always a consideration, and always adds another level of fun to making the art itself. Any chance I have to do this, I want to take.
What is most exciting you in skateboarding today?
The fact that fun has really become the key component of skating today is cool. I mean it may sound stupid but, a few years back, maybe like 10 years back even, skating was really sort of feeling like it was not about fun. It was alienating in some ways if you were not totally ripping. You had to be doing the biggest, best or most tech tricks, or you were just out of it.
But now it really feels like there is a place for all types of skating, and that they’re actually celebrated. People get psyched on it. Of course you will always have the competitive hot shots , but more now than ever I feel like people are just generally stoked to see anyone out skating doing a trick or two.
And so what do you think that’s bringing to the scene?
A lot of people who used to skate (and have not for many years) are rediscovering it, and starting back up. It’s fun to be out skating for sure, but the whole experience of it is also so cool to be a part of. People coming back to it excites me, they seem to be coming back with so much excitement and fresh energy as well. It’s cool….
Thanks so much, Andrew. We hope we get to shred your Miami art park with you soon.
