DIY / Underground Skateparks
Richard Gilligan
Prestel
English
Text by Iain Borden and Jocko Weyland.
Interview by Paul Seawright.
Hardcover
160 pages
251 x 294 mm
2014
ISBN 9788492632046
A skateboarding book like no other, this collection of stunning colour photographs from around the world reveals an authentic, unsentimental view of an often over-glamorised subculture.
The Irish photographer and skateboarder Richard Gilligan spent four years traveling through Europe and the us to photograph homemade skateparks. The resulting photographs are not your run-of-the-mill action shots filled with miraculous body moves, slashes, twists, and turns. Instead, Gilligan chooses to focus on the sport’s “negative space”: the out-of-the-way concrete embankments, nondescript suburban lots where kids come to practice, a simple wooden ramp so insubstantial that no one but a skateboarder would recognise its use.
Many of these photographs can be appreciated as unique, if prosaic, landscapes, but Gilligan also populates his pictures with skaters at rest, smoking alone, hanging out together, or walking home, board in hand. The images offer a grittily beautiful tribute to the ineffable hunger that unites all skateboarders—young, old, rich, poor. In these photographs Gilligan realises the act of skating represents more than a quest for glory, but a means of self-expression.
(source: https://www.grantlibreria.com/libro/diy-underground-skateparks_2544)
About the Artist
Rich Gilligan grew up in Dublin, Ireland fascinated with skateboarding and music. He began making his own zines as a teenager and worked as a skate photographer for a variety of publications worldwide. He now shoots a wide range of commissioned projects while continuing to pursue his personal work. Gilligan is currently based between Ireland and NYC.
richgilligan.com
(source: http://www.richgilligan.com/about/)
About the Publisher
Prestel specialises in illustrated book publishers with crafted books on all aspects of art, architecture, photography and design. From the latest pop culture and fashion to major exhibition catalogues and a comprehensive selection of fiction and non-fiction.
prestelpublishing.penguinrandomhouse.de
(source: https://prestelpublishing.penguinrandomhouse.de/About-Prestel-Publishing/About-Prestel/aid27522_12568.rhd)
