Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Since a graphic was first hand-drawn onto a board, the culture of skateboarding has been creative and visual, with by-products such as videos, stickers, magazines, board graphics and clothing. In recent years more skateboarders than ever have turned to art as another outlet for their creativity and an increasing number of exhibitions focus on art produced by skateboarders. Concrete to Canvas brings together, for the first time, a wide variety of the finest work, whether on skate decks, canvas, computers, in sketchbooks or on the streets. Many of the artists selected for inclusion have used the street as their canvas, while also exhibiting in galleries internationally, often fusing spray paints and marker pens with oils and acrylics. Artists are featured alphabetically and the work is accompanied by brief commentaries and quotes its relationship with skateboarding.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

As most of the artists featured in this volume point out, making art is a lot like skateboarding, and vice versa. Little surprise, then, that many of these artists use the idiom of graffiti. Both graffiti and skateboarding are fundamentally urban, requiring a visceral and often dangerous interaction with the hard surfaces of the American city; both demand that practitioners constantly be on the lookout for that perfect, unblemished surface; and both tend to drive cops and security guards nuts. Yet this is hardly a homogenous collection. Of the 29 artists profiled, roughly half practice some form of guerrilla urban art (graffiti, stencil and paste art, etc.), but the majority also work in more traditional mediums and nearly all have been featured in gallery shows. From the minimalist canvasses of Rob Abeyta Jr. to the hyperkinetic cartoonishness of Dalek and Andrew Pommier, the sheer artistic diversity on display is staggering. There is one problem with the volume as a whole: at 128 pages, it's too short by half. Like a dizzying skateboard trick, it's an exhilarating ride that ends much too soon. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

Gr. 10-12. In the sophisticated, glossy format of a museum catalogue, this title presents a survey of works created by artists who skateboard. The influence of a gritty, creative street culture comes through on every spread, all filled with full-color reproductions. There are a few nudes and plenty of coarse language, and the artists include phallic and religious symbols in the edgy, irreverent imagery, which probably won't faze readers familiar with graphic novels aimed at an older teen audience. This isn't a necessary purchase, and there isn't much commentary in the short introduction and biographical paragraphs that introduce each artist. Still, this is an attractively presented, rare look at a youth-fueled art movement that is gaining mainstream momentum, and the originality, energy, and humor in these artworks will speak directly to teens. In one portrait by artist Ed Templeton, for example, a person spews out messages that coil into a cul-de-sac of lameness. Give this to artists, skaters, and teens who belong to what artist Chris Burke calls skateboarding's little club of misfits. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2006 Booklist