Art on a Roll

COCA. Photos courtesy Centre of Contemporary Art. I’m a big fan of giving a whole lot of creative people one idea, one medium or one ‘canvas’ and letting them run free with their ideas. The end result is often a gathering of innovative works that makes us think afresh – especially if the brief is for the artists to focus on something we might otherwise take for granted – a table for instance, a chair, or, in this case, a skateboard. “Board Art 2008” is a colourful and imaginative display of works on skateboards now showing at COCA in Christchurch (until August 9). It includes a wide range of talent from emerging artists to the solidly established and the range of materials is equally as diverse – everything from acrylics, mixed media and pencil to laser printed vinyl, car enamel, stitching and my personal favourite – a spiky little job with around 1,000 sharpened pencil tips protruding from the skateboard surface. Three cheers for the celebration of ‘underground art.’ To my mind, we don't do it nearly enough.