PREVIEW & SAVE THE DATE: “NO SHITTY ADS” Opening Reception at Commonwealth – Saturday December 16th (6-9pm)
The lifestyle boutique Commonwealth has just opened in the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District, next to our other new neighbor, House of Machines. Not only are we so happy about their move to this part of the Arts District, but we are super excited that their first exhibition is “NO SHITTY ADS” a comprehensive 1980’s skate zine retrospective presented by FACT., and the Skateboardmuseum Berlin.
Here’s more from Commonwealth about the retrospective: As the second wave of skateboarding was taking a deep dive in the early 80s, skate park after skate park was bulldozed into oblivion. Skateboarding shifted from concrete pools into wooden backyard half-pipes. The music turned from Disco to Punk and New Wave and the glossy skateboard magazines went out of print.
Around the same time Thrasher skateboard magazine started up as a newsprint zine type of thing inspiring and even encouraging the readers to start a zine of their own as they saw a “new energetic spirit with radical ideas to further expand previous established barriers. Take a pen in hand and draw upon this untapped energy and record the action from the source.” (Thrasher June 1981)
Many skateboarders listen to the advice or were simple driven by their DIY (Do It Yourself) attitude and stared to take the fate of skateboarding in their own hand.
So its no wonder that the first known zine was called Skate Fate followed by hundreds of zines with great names in the following years. In the early years, edition sizes ranged roughly between 25 to 50 copies. The later years the print runs was around 50 to 100. The zines had a very artist and punk rock inspired design. Next to reports on the local skateboarding scene and skateboarders, trick tips, interviews the creators looked also into art, music, cartoons, and creating their own ads.
Besides that many zines were crudely rendered punk rock-inspired affairs with technically bad photos and crappy drawings, the rawness of no boundaries by advertisers, parents or authority let to amazingly artistic documents of a very unique youth culture. Starting from the US, skateboarders all over the world began to make their own zines and documenting their local secret society!
Famous skateboarders of today like GSD (Gary Skate Davis), Steve Caballero, Tod Swank, Claus Grabke and many more created their own zines, played in bands and created their own DIY apparel.
The exhibition will display a special selection of original zines from all over world, including Skate Fate, Swank Zine, Death Zone, Skate Punk, Speed Zine, etc. This will be complemented with DIY, Punk and New Wave inspired apparel and the option to look into selected zine reprints.
Hope to see you at the opening reception and in our hood! 🙂
Exhibition:
“NO SHITTY ADS”
December 17th – 31st (11am – 6pm)
Opening Reception:
Saturday December 16th (6-9pm)
Drinks and Pizzanista
RSVP HERE
Address:
Commonwealth LA
2008 E 7th Street
DTLA Arts District 90021
