The Origins

Conceived as a tribute to the underground skateboard culture and its influence on our ways of life, the exhibition MY DAD’S FAVORITE COVERS, produced by ART OF BOARDING, a non-profit organization, proposes oil paintings of the French artist Benjamin CHASSELON reproducing big format covers from various skateboard magazines among the most prestigious, covering thirty years of evolution of this sport and its environment. Each painting is unique and painted according to traditional methods and with first class materials.

The approach chosen by the curators, Stephane ANDRE and Morgan BOUVANT, is based on the fact that these covers are all graphically striking and can be used as point of reference in the evolution of this sport since its origins, thanks to the choice of the reviews (Thrasher, Transworld Skateboarding, The Skateboard Mag…), athletes, mythical figures and photographers. This exhibition is addressed both to a large public and skateboard fans, it combines emotion and esthetic pleasure dedicated the essence of this sport and its most influential actors.

This project started informally about 3 years ago when we asked our friend, Benjamin CHASSELON if he could paint a big format of the cover of Skateboarder magazine dated February 1977 featuring Stacy Peralta against the light. We received the painting a month later and was just amazed by the result. Benjamin’s ultra realistic “pop art” style gave a whole new dimension to the picture and that’s how the process of the exhibition slowly emerged.

Then we got access to access to archives and selected what we believe were some of the most striking and prestigious magazine covers based on various criteria such as emotion, esthetics, technique, year of publication, graphic design… The selection shows the evolution of the sport but also of the artwork of the covers.This project was conceived as a tribute to the magazines and how they influenced the development of skateboarding and other extreme sports. We believe these covers had a great influence on our lifestyle.”

- Stephane Andre, Morgan Bouvant, Benjamin Chasselon.