haroshi: skateboard art

screaming my hand, 2010image © designboom

japanese wood sculptor haroshi specializes in creating three-dimensional art pieces from used and broken skateboard decks. although haroshi uses one type of material for his art, skate decks vary widely in size and structure depending on the factory, brand and model. in creating his sculptures, he filters through thousands of old decks and individually picks out the perfect board to use. after they are stacked, cut and shaved to form, they are painted and polished to a candy-like finish.

not available to the outside observer is another one of haroshi’s artistic details. during construction, each sculpture is given a “soul”, a broken metal skateboard piece that is laid in the core of the piece. unkei, a 12th century japanese buddha sculptor, had a similar practice of including a crystal ball in his statues as the “soul” of the buddha.

screaming my hand, 2010 image © designboom

screaming my hand, 2010 image © designboom

screaming my hand, 2010 (detail) image © designboom

screaming my foot, 2010 image © designboom

screaming my foot, 2010 image © designboom

screaming my foot, 2010 image © designboom

screaming my foot, 2010 image © designboom

screaming my foot, 2010 (detail) image © designboom

mad skull, 2009 image © designboom

mad skull, 2009 image © designboom

tattoo bear, 2009 image © designboom

tattoo bear, 2009 image © designboom

tattoo bear, 2009 (detail) image © designboom

moose, 2010 image © designboom

moose, 2010 (detail) image © designboom

moose, 2010 (detail) image © designboom

kick front fork, 2007 image © designboom

shy peaco, 2008 image © designboom

mario series, 2009 image © designboom

mario series, 2009 image © designboom

mario series, 2009 (detail) image © designboom

mario series, 2009 image © designboom

love, 2010 image © designboom

love, 2010 (detail) image © designboom

piles of skateboard decks in haroshi’s studio image courtesy of territory magazine

artists working in studio image courtesy of territory magazine