I grew up in the Chinatown/ Little India part of the East End of Toronto. I have been skateboarding and drawing graffiti art since growing up in that area. I would say the theme of my skateboard graphic is a sort of Wu Tang clan approach to Asian art; an example would be is how I try to combine Asian figures with a more urban style art. I guess the main point I’m trying to make is that even in the midst of such an urban environment there’s still things that are around us every day that people don’t know about or care to recognize. Ancient things still haven’t been discovered, which kind of reminds me that the world isn’t fully commercialized.
I chose a street style deck instead of a long board to make as my first board. I have been using street decks for over 6 years, so it made more sense to do that. Since then I have made a long board version of the same design. The materials I used to paint them are regular Montana and Krylon spray paint through an acetate stencil with a clear coat spray over the finished decks. I like how the colour scheme has a fade, how the gold Buddha looks like a statue, and how I balanced out the flow of the deck at the nose and the tail with the use of pagodas and Asian calligraphy.
I’ve learned from making this design that you can’t always rush things; if you take things slowly what ever it is will turn out a lot better than if you rush through it. I also learned that if one has an idea and sets his mind to it any thing is possible, and you don’t have to have money to be rich. It’s all about a good state of mind to be happy. Overall, I like how the deck turned out and can’t wait to work on other designs.
