The Godfather - Rodney Mullen

Rodney Mullen was one of my teenage heroes, and still is. He is thought of by many as the Godfather of modern skateboarding, being the inventor of a myriad of foundational tricks and approaches to skating. The ollie — the very act of jumping with a skateboard from the flat ground using only the feet… that was him. Kick flips were him. The modern shape of skateboards — him. As a freestyle skater he was extremely technical, with an amazing level of dexterity and balance. His shift into street skating later in his career changed the trajectory of the entire sport. He is a genius equally full of ingenuity and humility.

The Skater series is inspired by the photography of J. Grant Brittain and especially his recent book, Push. Grant was there in the early days of skateboarding, working the skate parks, capturing, chronicling, and sharing his work through Transworld Magazine, which he co-founded. Skateboarding is larger than a hobby, larger than a sport. It is a culture, which Grant helped to establish through his creative direction of Transworld, and by the deep relationships that he built with the skaters whose lives and talents he shared through the images and moments he captured.

The color palette I chose for the Skater series is intended to keep the subjects grounded in reality, complemented by a consistent, prominent orange for the skateboards as a through line across the portraits. However, the skaters appear to be anything but grounded, as they soar through the air, each in some form of flight. The explosiveness of their actions is accentuated by the 1980’s style paint splatter motifs that echo their kinetic energy.

Original is acrylic on canvas. Prints are available in limited editions per size. Read more about print quality, edition details, and commissions in the FAQs .