Ai Weiwei hits the decks

The Chinese artist and dissident follows Koons, Hirst and Warhol, by creating his own skateboard deck

Forget ceramics or celebrity commissions. You haven't arrived as a premier-league artist until you have your own range of skateboard decks. George Condo, Damien Hirst, and Jeff Koons have all created a range of them for the New York clothing label, Supreme, while the estates of Keith Haring and Andy Warhol have licensed their works to the skate brand, Alien Workshop.

Now the Belgian artsy skateboard site, TheSK8room.com, has produced a set of hand-numbered and signed skateboard decks by the Chinese artist and dissident, Ai Weiwei. These carry recognisable images from his oeuvre, including porcelain crabs and sesame seeds, accompanied by one of Ai's aphorisms, such as "The World is not changing if you don't shoulder the burden of responsibility" and "there are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship in the world."

 

Ai WeiWei's skateboard line
Ai WeiWei's skateboard line

Don't they look good? Open-minded collectors and artistically inclined urban sport enthusiasts can pick them up for 300 here. For a more thorough grounding in his work though, perhaps best enjoyed in the comfort of your favourite chair (and there's some help with that here), you can also buy our monograph, the first major book produced on this important artist, here.