Crandall, Collier, Dyba, Martin, Tofer, & Pommier Plates Auction Ends Today
All of the numberplates from Nike 6.0's Lightning Bolts show are being auctioned off this week to raise money for the Athlete Recovery Fund. Here's a look at the six plates up for grabs today at www.athleterecoveryfund.com/lightningbolts/. Click the link to check out all of the plates and to get your bid on.
ANDREW POMMIER
SHORT STATEMENT ON THE ROLE BMX HAD IN MY LIFE:
I saw the movie "RAD" when I was around 11. I got super stoked on BMX bikes, but all I had to try my hand at tricks was a BMX styled bike my parents bought me at Kmart. It's hard to do endos with coaster brakes, but I gave it my best shot. I soon started buying BMX mags, contained in their pages there was a little skateboarding cross-over coverage. Skateboarding started grabbing my attention more than learning about crank arms and how to do tailwhips.
ARTIST BIO:
Andrew Pommier is in Vancouver, a part of the world where it's pointless to take the fenders off ones bike. He does a bunch of drawings and paintings that sometimes get shown in galleries. In late 2008 he curated a show of five Canadian artists for the Monster Children Gallery in Sydney, Ausrtalia and has worked for various skateboard and clothing companies, such as Toy Machine, Girl, Element, RVCA and Fourstar. In early 2008 Adidas released a three pack of signature shoes by Pommier. At the time of this writing he lives in a small drafty coach house in the east end of the city. In the house is a cranky loud cat that never seems pleased. He likes peanut butter and banana sandwiches. He has been to China once and Australia twice.
JOHN MARTIN
ARTIST BIO
Growing up in County Cork, Ireland, John knew he wanted to be a designer
at an early age. His first love was BMX and it was also his
first expression of creativity. While his peers played team sports like
football (soccer) and hurling, he was off on his own doing "Kerb Endos"
and "Rock Walks," a pastime turned passion that set the tone for the
rest of his life.
After studying at the Cork College of Fashion Design,
he worked in Southern California for seven years at several surf, skate
and snowboarding companies. He has spent the last eight years designing
products and setting overall creative direction for Nike SB, Nike 6.0 and Nike Snowboarding.
KLAUS DYBA
ARTIST STATEMENT: 1983 changed my life. Groups of kids on little bikes with knobbly tires
entered my city, rode full speed through red traffic lights, jumped
curbs and somehow rode away from their normal life. That's how I
wanted to be! Even at the age of 13 without Cable-tv or the Internet,
everything unusual made me curious! It was a hard fight to get my first
bike, but from then on it never left my life. I enjoyed the idea
behind Freestyle BMX way more than race and the Freestylin'/Go
Magazine was my bible.
The dead years of BMX actually brought me into the DIY lifestyle.
Somehow I enjoyed doing something nobody else did or understood. BMX
was commercially dead but it had opened my own universe with pen friends,
zines and roadtrips without cameras. BMX showed me the fun of investing time
into projects that no one but yourself or a small group of people are
interested in.
STEVE CRANDALL
SHORT STATEMENT ON THE ROLE BMX HAD IN MY LIFE:
One of the first things I learned on my BMX, was that using the front brakes while riding on an icy sidewalk will make you crash. That was probably 25 or so years ago, on Christmas morning, after I got one of my first BMX bikes. Since then it has taught me about many of the things I consider valuable. Travel, friendship, adventure, and the timeless feeling of the "get rad" has inspired creativity for me, and many others.
ARTIST BIO:
Steve Crandall is a 34 year-old product of Ithaca, NY. Now residing in Richmond, VA, Crandall spearheaded FBM Bike Company in the late '90s. Combining his comically blunt artwork with US-made bicycle frames and a team of longtime friends, FBM was well received throughout the BMX world. And to this day, the brand is equated with quality, and more importantly, having fun on a bicycle. But it's not always easy to hit the streets in the dead of January in Crandall's hometown, and he learned early on to pick up a paint brush and toil the night away in front of the canvas. Over the past ten years, Crandall's artwork has appeared in numerous art shows around the world. His subjects vary greatly, from wayward pigeons to tasty soup to deteriorated glimpses of old Americana and everything in between. More recently, Crandall was barred from entering Canada for ten years. He refuses to comment, though he has blogged about it.
TRAVIS COLLIER
SHORT STATEMENT ON THE ROLE BMX HAD IN MY LIFE:
Out of so many things in life I would say that BMX is the one that has brought me to were I am now. It has been my friend and my enemy, my sanity, insanity and by far the hugest influence for better or worse. It is the passion that has lead me to art and design. In retrospect, being exposed to BMX is what made everything "click" and put me exactly where I'm supposed to be as a person and professional. Flatland has given me the discipline, open mind and creativity I need for my endeavors in the years to come. I'm grateful that I was able to find something so incredible in life, and live it to the fullest. Riding curbs today is still just as dope as when I was 12.
ARTIST BIO:
I've spent the last ten years in parking lots and parkades riding Flatland. Eight of them competing and traveling as a pro. After growing tired of competition I decided to start building on my other passion in art and design. So I decided to give my BMX career a back seat for a while and attend university to study design for a few years. Throughout my BMX career I have been fortunate enough to have some unique relationships with sponsors and others in the industry. So I was able to put myself through school by taking on various freelance projects from my sponsors and other clients. Still competing and traveling in my off time payed the bills during those years in school. So I guess you could say that BMX put me through school and was my "springboard" into design. School is now over and I currently work at one of Vancouver's leading design companies, St. Bernadine Mission Communications (www.stbernadine.com). I continue to travel and compete as pro flatlander, and am fortunate enough to represent companies such as Macneil Bikes, Lotek, and Fremont.
TOFER
SHORT STATEMENT ON THE ROLE BMX HAD IN MY LIFE:
My first bike ever was an all chrome BMX with a checkered pad set and training wheels. The training wheels lasted a week. Today, I ride an all chrome GT 12" with a laid back seat post and a checkered California Lite handle bar pad.
ARTIST BIO:
Tofer Chin, a Los Angeles-based artist and photographer, is the co-owner of PG (Plain Gravy), a lifestyle collective that is deeply rooted in the culture of art, skateboarding, and music. Chin recently finished his second photo book, Vacation Standards (a follow-up to Finger Bang, his first book). He has exhibited his work at Commissary Arts in Venice, CA, White Box in New York, Reina Sofia National Museum Art Centre in Madrid, and at ROJO® ArtSpace in Barcelona to name a few. He was recently commissioned by interior designer Kelly Wearstler to produce original paintings for the revamping of the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills and the Viceroy Hotel in Miami. Chin received the 2008 Graphis Design Annual Gold Award for Flaunt No. 79, where he created an original painting for the issue's cover.
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