By Megan Sullivan
Staff Writer
“Skateboarders Vs. Minimalism,” challenges the stereotype that skateboarders vandalize
and draws contrast between skaters and wellknown minimalist art sculptures through creative
videos.
The exhibit exceeds expectations in its creativity and originality, but is unsatisfactory in
creating a entertaining environment due to the poor execution of the event. The videos
themselves were artistic and visionary, but somewhat redundant and unamusing.
The film “Skateboarders Vs. Minimalism” was created by Australian contemporary artist
Shaun Gladwell. It is inspired by a series of skateboarding films created by skateboarder Rodney
Mullen.The showing of the film that took place on June 4 at the Torrance Art Museum marked
the North American premiere of the film.
Mullen stars in Gladwell’s film along with skateboarders, Jesus Esteban and Hillary
Thomson. The exhibit featured three separate videos each with one of the skaters skateboarding
on famous modern sculptures by artists including Donald Judd, Carl Andre and Dan Flavin. The
videos were filmed and presented inside the gallery.
The techniques used to create these videos was unique to Gladwell, due to the fact this
was the first film he ever produced. The videos were innovative and original, making them a
refreshing addition to the art and skateboarding community. It was clever and provided a new
inside perspective on the community which made the exhibit beneficial to the art world.
Not only were the videos unique, but each video was filmed with a great amount of effort
and precision. They captured various angles of the skaters and included a large variety of tricks,
which made it more engaging to the audience.
Although the videos were the main focus of the exhibit, the energy produced by the
crowd created a lively atmosphere. People brought skateboards to skate around the exhibit while
the videos were playing, bringing the films to life and gave the whole event a lively atmosphere.
Unfortunately, the crowd’s energy was not enough to make the entire event entertaining
because the videos were redundant and became monotonous. Although the vidoes focused on
three different skaterboarders, all three films were very similar in style of production. The exhibit
was enjoyable for ten minutes but then lost all its effect on the viewers.
Overall, “Skateboarders Vs. Minimalists” provided fresh new ideaswhere skateboarders,
artists, and viewers could collaborate, but failed to captivate audiences due to its redundant and
predictable plot. However, the energy of the event was not affected by the unamusing art and
created an enjoyable environment for viewers.
“Skateboarders Vs. Minimalists,” premiered in North America on June 4 at the Torrance
Art Museum. The Torrance Art museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 5pm.
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