Guest post by Duncan MacNally, GOSKATE. Edited by the DeckArts team.
Quick answer: Street art and skateboard decks grew up in the same places: empty walls, ledges and banks that skaters rode and writers painted. That shared culture shaped deck graphics, from hand-drawn designs in the 1970s to icons like Jim Phillips' Screaming Hand, and artists such as Shepard Fairey came out of skateboarding. Today a street art skateboard deck is just as often hung on a wall as ridden.
Skateboarding has always been about more than tricks and finding the perfect spot. It is also a form of self-expression, shaped by music, photography, fashion, graffiti and street art. Look at a deck rack in any skate shop and you see a small gallery: portraits, slogans, cartoons and stencils, each one chosen because it says something about the person who rides it.
This article follows that connection from the street to the deck and from the deck to the wall. It looks at where deck graphics came from, at artists who worked on both walls and boards, and at why so many people now hang a street art skateboard deck at home instead of riding it.
Why skaters and street artists share a visual language
Skaters and graffiti writers look at a city in a similar way. A handrail, a loading dock or a blank concrete wall is not just architecture. To a skater it is a line to ride; to a writer it is a surface to paint. Both groups spend their time in the same overlooked corners, and both treat public space as something to use rather than walk past.
That overlap produced a shared visual language: bold outlines, high-contrast colour, hand-drawn letters, stickers and stencils that can be read in a second from a distance. Many skaters drew their own griptape designs and zines, and many street artists started out skating. It is no surprise that the deck, a board passed from hand to hand and photographed in motion, became one of the main places where that language was printed.
From hand-drawn crosses to icons: deck graphics in the 1970s and 80s
Early skateboards were plain wood, valued for how they rode rather than how they looked. That changed in the 1970s, when skaters and small brands started to treat the bottom of the board as space for an image. Wes Humpston, who drew crosses and lettering by hand on boards for Dogtown, is often credited as one of the first deck graphic artists.
In the 1980s graphics became the identity of a brand. At Powell Peralta, Vernon Courtlandt Johnson drew skulls, skeletons and the Ripper, which became some of the best-known images in skateboarding. At Santa Cruz, Jim Phillips created the Screaming Hand in 1985, a blue hand with an open mouth in its palm that is still printed today. These images were not made for galleries, but they were drawn with the same directness as graffiti: one strong idea, readable at a glance.
We have written in more depth about this period in the history of skateboard deck graphics, about Vernon Courtlandt Johnson and the Ripper, and about how screen printing shaped deck graphics.
Street artists who moved between walls and boards
The clearest proof of the link between street art and skateboarding is the artists who moved between the two. Shepard Fairey was a skateboarder before he started the Andre the Giant sticker campaign in 1989 as a design student. The campaign grew into OBEY, one of the best-known names in street art, and its stickers spread through skate culture long before they reached galleries.
Skaters such as Mark Gonzales and Ed Templeton made art as part of their skating lives, drawing graphics, making zines and later showing paintings and photographs in exhibitions. Their work blurred the line between a pro skater and a working artist.
The traffic also runs the other way. Keith Haring began with chalk drawings on empty black advertising panels in underground stations, and Jean-Michel Basquiat first became known for the SAMO© tags he wrote with a friend. Decades later, licensed decks with their work have been released by The Skateroom in Brussels. For more on these partnerships, see our list of artist and skateboard brand collaborations and our comparison of street art and skateboard art.
Berlin, where our decks are printed, has its own chapter in this story. In 1990 artists from many countries painted a long surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall, which became the East Side Gallery. It is one of the most visited open-air galleries in Europe and a reminder of how naturally art takes over a concrete surface.
Colour, lettering and the 20 cm canvas
A deck is a hard format to design for. At around 85 × 20 cm, it is tall, narrow and rounded at both ends, and the image is usually seen either in a quick flash under a moving board or upright on a rack. Designs that work on this format tend to share a few habits with street art:
- One focal point. A single face, hand or symbol carries further than a busy scene, the same reason a stencil on a wall is usually one figure.
- Contrast first. Black linework on white, or saturated colour on a dark ground, stays readable from across a room.
- Lettering as image. Brand names and slogans are drawn, not typed. Bubble letters, stencil fonts and hand-cut type come straight from graffiti and flyers.
- Vertical composition. Strong designs use the length of the board, running the eye from nose to tail.
The same rules make a deck work on a wall. A vertical, high-contrast image holds its own in a hallway or above a desk, where a wide canvas would not fit.
From equipment to wall art
Skateboards wear out. The graphic on a ridden deck is scraped away within weeks, which is one reason collectors started to keep favourite boards unridden. Over time, decks from well-known artists and brands became collectibles, and skateboard art began to appear in exhibitions and auctions.
Many people now buy a deck only to display it. A deck brings something a framed print does not: the shape of an object with a history, the layers of wood visible along the edge, and a direct link to a culture. Our guides on deck art versus canvas prints and on classical art on skateboard decks explore that shift.
Street-art-inspired decks at DeckArts
DeckArts makes skateboard wall art rather than boards for riding. Every deck is printed by hand in Berlin on 7-ply Canadian maple pressed in Butzbach, Germany, and ships from Berlin. Next to classical paintings, the catalogue includes contemporary pieces that come from the same street culture this article describes.
The Masked Portrait Floral deck takes the masked figure, a familiar image in street art and protest, and covers the balaclava in flowers. The Mexican Art Street Icon deck draws on a sepia portrait framed by sun rays. Italian illustrator Stefano Borella, whom we interviewed here, works with sharp, irreverent ink drawings, and Braviera from Panama builds his characters in virtual reality. You can browse more in the contemporary and pop collection, the Stefano Borella collection and the Braviera collection.
The same idea works for classical paintings. Our Van Gogh Starry Night triptych splits the painting across three decks standing side by side: a swirling blue sky, a bright yellow moon, a dark cypress and the small village below. Up close, the thick, textured strokes and the layered maple edge of each board are both visible.
How to display a street art deck at home
A street art deck is made to be seen, so give it space. One deck can anchor a hallway or the wall above a desk; three hung side by side form a strong vertical rhythm. For layouts, see our guide to building a skateboard art gallery wall.
Our decks do not come ready to hang. Wall mounts are sold separately in the display accessories collection, and you need one mount per deck. Shipping is free on orders over €50.
FAQ
How did street art influence skateboard graphics?
Skaters and graffiti writers used the same spaces and shared a direct, high-contrast visual style. Deck graphics borrowed bold outlines, drawn lettering and single strong images from street art, and several artists, such as Shepard Fairey, came from skateboarding.
Who made the first skateboard deck graphics?
Wes Humpston, who hand-drew designs on Dogtown boards in the 1970s, is often credited as one of the first. In the 1980s artists such as Vernon Courtlandt Johnson and Jim Phillips turned graphics into brand icons.
Can you hang a skateboard deck as wall art?
Yes. A deck is light and has a strong vertical shape. DeckArts decks are made for display, and each one needs its own wall mount, sold separately.
Are DeckArts decks meant for riding?
They are wall art. Each deck is printed by hand in Berlin on 7-ply Canadian maple pressed in Butzbach, Germany.
Where do DeckArts decks ship from?
All decks ship from Berlin. Shipping is free on orders over €50.
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