Curtis Hsiang
UNTIL SEVERAL YEARS AGO, skateboarding,
was the closest I'd yet come to the practice of art,
and it provided a sufficient reservoir of meaning in
my life-enough to preclude a serious and commit
ted investigation of art-making. Yet, for reasons still
not entirely clear to myself today, I eventually found
myself embarked on that investigation. I still consid
er myself quite a beginner. The practice of art has
provided me with a formidable complement to the
practice of skateboarding in my life. Making art, in
fact, is the only activity I have yet discovered to be
as saturated in meaning as the act of skateboarding
is. I want to make it perfectly clear that in no way
has my relationship with art-making diminished
the importance of skateboarding in my life. What I
am saying is that art does not replace skateboarding.
It cannot. What the practice of art does do, among
other things, is demonstrate with a singular clarity
the rewards of perseverance in the patient observa
tion of the world around us. Of course, one of those
rewards is the continuing reassertion of the deep
beauty of skateboarding. Two words to anyone who
find themselves committed to either the acts of art-
making, skateboarding or both: Never quit.
CANVAS
40 THER
Ast
This is an example of Hsiang's com
pleted art entitled "Lip Chair With
Shoe Trees." All other photos are
studies of work in progress.