gold-plated skate rail gold-plated steel 20″ x 96″ x 4″

is a skateboarding rail still a skateboarding rail when it’s made of 14-carat gold? created by california-based artist and longtime skateboarder andrew lewicki, three sculptures– a skateboarding ramp made of walnut, an impossibly narrow halfpipe, and a golden grind rail– turn normally utilitarian forms into products meant only to be seen.

intrigued by the social and government sanctioning of specific zones for otherwise illegal or undesired activities, as in the formation of skateparks or legal graffiti walls, lewicki sought a visual metaphor to upend this logic, settling upon a series of pieces modeled after skatepark structures, but intended only to be observed and not used.

andrew lewicki: luxury skatepark y = x² plywood, douglas fir, black pipe 16′ x 13′ x 8′

conceptually the sculptures draw parallels to the societal response to subculture, which typically involves some combination of isolation and normalization of particular characteristics. raising conceptual questions of the role of context and materiality in determining an object’s function and form, the works might also be considered a playful critique on society’s focus on high design and luxury consumer products.

andrew lewicki: luxury skatepark walnut skate ramp walnut, gold-plated steel 36″ x 70″ x 24″

via huh. magazine