Skewville

Daniel Chou

EN 101

Airborne Kicks

 The initial start of Skewville started with the wooden shoe, or “airborne kicks”. The wooden shoe is now seen all over the world, from New York to China, that way it shows that Skewville has been there, like any street artist trying to get their name out there, when they mark up a spot. When I read that that’s how they got their name out there, I was impressed, and found it pretty amazing that people come up with stuff like the airborne kicks to get recognition from people.

Every graffiti or street art artists coming from New York City has their own style and taste. So when people see their work, they will instantly know who it is. The Skewville style is a bit uncommon, being that is considered a “street installation”, a combination of graffiti on 3D objects that has interaction with the public environment. After the installation is made, it is left in the area, to bring something amazing to the urban area.

As children, the twin brothers would throw up sneakers or “kicks” up every street corner in New York City. It was a way of representing your hood, or and also if someone who has passed away on that block. But as they got older, they came out with the idea of making wooden sneakers to continue with their childhood practice. They started in 1999, and ever since then there have been thousands of airborne kicks hanging in corners around the world.

One of Skewville’s famous artwork besides their famous flying wooden sneakers is their piece presented in one of their recent shows called “Shift Work Disorder”.  The piece is named after a mental disorder, meaning an exhausting insomnia brought on by working irregular shifts at night. This show dedicated to showing the breakdown of the body's natural rhythm in their own lives-- making art while surviving in the real world often results in drowsiness, disrupted finances, and irritation with the general public.[1] This work will also go beyond Skewville’s usual design, but features a darker more personal form of work not shown by Skewville before.

Before starting Skewville in 1996, Ad went to the School of Visual Arts in New York City, to become an illustrator. He then switched to graphic design and actually ended up with a degree in advertising. But after working for many ad agencies, he decided to quit, and start Skewville.  His brother Droo went to NYIT for architecture, then later on went to FIT for marketing. He had a corporate job for a couple of years, and then decided to quit to work full time for Skewville with his brother.

The name Skewville is not a Nickname that was composed out of nowhere. It actually   comes from a building in Queens, NY that the twin brothers named Ad and Droo lived in during the Mid 90’s. Technically it stands for a building that the twins use to live in, for the building was falling apart and almost in ruins. But the building had character, for the skewed or distorted, bended, or twisted structure of the building, with the crooked stairwells made the building beautiful and unique. The term “Skewville” stands for warpness or crookedness, in the sense that you never know what you will get. Once you walk in one direction, you’ll end up in an unfamiliar place or a different direction.

Even after ten years of being street art scene, Skewville artwork is still renowned for being different from everyone else, for being creative and being a influential figure in the movement of the street art culture.

One of my favorite works by Skewville, is the “Slow Your Roll” piece. The piece shows a red bus with the slogan slow your roll. The reason why I like this particular work is the meaning behind the artwork. The artwork basically means to keep yourself in check, and not do everything in such a hurry. The “Slow Your Roll” reminds me to calm down, enjoy life and take a breather from the events in life that are draining. It is a positive piece of artwork that reminds you that the glass should always be half-full.

Hook And Sherman

According to Bell Hooks in the essay “Art on my mind”, the author states that art should defamiliarize a viewer by making the observer look at something effortless and well known in a particular way. But according to Leo Tolstoy, art ought to evoke emotions in a viewer. Looking at both authors’ point of view, I believe that my artist Skewville accomplishes both of these demands. 

One of Skewville’s most famous pieces is the Skewville airborne kicks or wooden sneakers. This piece accomplishes both of Hook’s and Tolstoy’s ideas because the thought of wooden sneakers hanging around street corners all over the world brings many different emotions to the audience’s minds – it can bring the emotion of incredulity, of wonder, of confusion and of marvel. Viewers can be confused of why there are sneakers hanging up on street corners, they feel marveled and of wonder when they realized that the sneakers are made of painted wood. Some viewers can feel deceived, however the Skewville sneaker allows viewers to experience that art is however and whatever you make of it.

Another one of Skewville’s famous piece is the “Slow your roll” piece. This piece shows a red bus with the slogan “Slow Your Roll”. I believe that this work succeeds in doing both of Hook’s, and Tolstoy’s ideas as well. Looking at this piece, viewers would be able to imagine the car slowing down, and imagining the caption to be true. Also viewers can also feel the affection of the artist’s work as well.

 

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