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NEW 2016 Sean Cliver "Dandy Horse Deck" 9-color Hand-Silkscreened Board - SIGNED
Estimated price for orientation: 325 $
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Description Condition: New: A brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging (where packaging is applicable). Packaging should be the same as what is found in a retail store, unless the item is handmade or was packaged by the manufacturer in non-retail packaging, such as an unprinted box or plastic bag. See the seller's listing for full details. See all condition definitions- opens in a new window or tab ... Read moreabout the condition Brand: Paisely Skates Type: Longboard Model: ULTRARARE Country/Region of Manufacture: United States MPN: Does Not Apply UPC: Does not apply
You are bidding on brand new deck by Sean Cliver for Paisley Skates Sean Cliver “Dandy Horse Deck” ARTIST: Sean Cliver
DECK: Wood by PS Stix TITLE: Dandy Horse Deck TYPE: 9-color Hand-Silkscreened by Sleeping Skull SIZE: 8 1/2" x 32 1/4" • Nose: 7” • Tail: 6 5/8” • WB: 14 1/4” SIGNATURE: signed by Sean Cliver. DATE: 2016
Top of the deck might be different color than the one pictured. “Paisley skates and the artistes of big brother” – Article below taken from gorillaflicks.com website. ….. I've chosen to interview myself about this extra special, extra arty release from Paisley Skates. This is, after all, the Age of Enlightenment*. — Sean Cliver Sean: First things first, what is Paisley Skates? Sean: Great question. Real journalism 101, Norman Mailer. Regardless, I'm glad you asked, because it's a snappy little skateboard company I co-founded with Paul Urich. Our first set of boards came out last November and we've somehow managed to release a few more since then, thanks in part, or possibly in whole, to a small collective of friends and like-minded thinkers, like Nick Halkias and Mike Pipito, who have generously donated their time, talents, and esoteric interests to accelerate the cause. What, you have like some kinda Che Guevara thing going on? Sure, Che, why not. Aside from just keeping things in a progressively counterculture movement, our cause has to do with putting the paint back into graphics. By this, I mean we are going the extra mile and a three-quarters to have the graphics silk-screened by hand—just like they were in the '70s, '80s, and most of the '90s up until the more cost effective heat transfer process steamrolled into town. Some skaters care, many don't. Those that do are mostly the older generations that grew up with paint on the bottom of their boards and know that it slides on curbs and coping better than flaky-ass sheets and leaves a beautiful colored mess behind. I guess it all depends what you want out of a skateboard in the end… Like I always got off on the whole graphics and screen-printing aspect. Others could give a cold turd in the dead of night and just want a shape of 7-ply wood to roll, pop, and flip around on. To me it's always been a bit more than that, though, all occupational biases aside, because of—oh boy, here it comes!—its importance to skateboarding's visual mythology. Visual mythology? Are you high? No, quite the contrary, as I'm not a smoker of weed. In fact, I may have even been the only person other than Jeff Tremaine who wasn't high at the first Big Brother "Bong Olympics" in 1995. Anyway, I think we once stole that "visual mythology" phrase from Slap Magazine to use as a cover blurb on Big Brother Issue 38, so maybe they were high? Who knows, but I like your thoughtstyle. You should, because that was another Slap-inspired blurb for the cover of Issue 35. But let's get back to the point of this interview: these Paisley boards that I have coming out featuring art by , , Chris Pontius, and myself. You've changed. You used to be all about silly interviews with dumb questions and now you're just straight-up, no-nonsense promotion. Whatever, dude. Grow up. Like, did you even know that Pontius was an artist? Because he is. Of course I did. How could I forget that letter from him that was printed in Issue 11 of Big Brother back in 1994? Exactly, yeah, the "BMXican." Well, that was actually part of a larger body of work Pontius did throughout the ’90s, and that's where the piece came from that was used for his board graphic. I've always loved this drawing and was super stoked that he wanted to use it as a graphic. Is it true that you actually managed to get him to sign all of the boards? Yes! That was a pretty fun day. I picked Pontius up at his house in the hills of Hollywood and drove him down to the screen shop in the cuts of Carson where the boards were printed. As usual, the freeways were jammed, so it gave us ample time to shoot the breeze about San Luis Obispo/Central California skate history, what it's like doing the jackass comedy standup tour with all the guys, and many other things best not mentioned in this offhand, public manner. What about Carnie's board, how'd you decide on using that feline image for a graphic? Well, to backtrack a bit, one of the things we wanted to bring back when we started Paisley were slick bottoms. Slicks were real popular in the early- to mid-’90s and they really blew open the door for doing full color continuous tone graphics, like paintings, photos, and collages. So when we were finally able to make slicks a production reality at PS Stix, I knew right away that I wanted to use a photo by Carnie and a painting by Tremaine. This, of course, smacked of Big Brother, so we decided to do a series inspired as such with Carnie's studio print of Gary, because he was such a huge part of the magazine. Carnie even wrote up a special piece to be included with each board, "A Short List of Gary Factoids," which really rounds out his creative wheelhouse on this O.A.F.-shaped, Whale Cock-ish model. O.A.F.? Old as f. Although I think Dave refers to is as a "Fat Old Guy" shape, which would in fact be F.O.G., and actually makes just as much sense as O.A.F. in the end. Oh. And Tremaine's? Most people know of Tremaine as a director and producer, but before all that—even before his work as a layout jockey and art director on BMX, snow, and skate magazines—he was a painter. He even graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in fine art. But on the afternoon of Tremaine’s interview with Steve Rocco and Mike Ternasky for a position as Big Brother’s art/editorial director in the summer of 1992, he brought along a portfolio of his art. Once the interview was wrapped up, Rocco and Ternasky picked through all of his paintings and began dividing them up for slick bottom use between Blind, 101, and Plan B. Tremaine made more money in that one hour than most high end Beverly Hills escorts do in an entire evening! Anyway, later on in the ’90s he did some new paintings for Foundation, Prime, and Birdhouse, but then got tied up with this little cultural behemoth known as jackass in the aughts and hasn't been able to hit the easel as often as he once did. The “Devil & Babirusa” is in fact one of the few paintings he’s done since then and it’s the only board to feature his artwork since 1998. And Tremaine signed all of his decks, too? Yes. It took a few days, what with his busy schedule wrapping up the second season of Swerved on the WWE Network, but he managed to get through them all one stack at a time. And what pray tell do you want to say about your contribution to the series? Just that it was inspired from my daily dog walkings in Hollywood and all the stupid on streets that I see. Swear to god, every time I see some son of a tool riding around on one of these it makes me want to fly into a blind rage. Although, I think it angers me even more when I hear or see them referred to as "hoverboards," because clearly they don't hover. They have two wheels. Two stupid wheels that touch the stupid ground. That's not anywhere close to the dictionary definition of hovering. Did none of these idiots see Back to the Future? All right... lighten up, Francis. See? That's how badly these things affect me. When I was trying to work through these irrationalities with Carnie, he told me that he refers to these two-wheeled dumbmobiles as "Dandy Horses." This actually helped to calm me a bit, not to mention the fact it provided me with a new purpose in life: to promote the Dandy Horse label. In all seriousness, though, I'm normally not the inspirational quote kind of guy, but this one by cartoonist Robert Crumb really sums it up well: "I'm just a negative person, a deeply negative person. I see the worst aspects in everything." Please learn more and read this great article from Vice.com Sean Cliver on Skate Graphics… In the 90s, World Industries’ art department was responsible for redefining what a skateboard graphic could be as well as completely changing the format and tone of skate magazines. One of the driving forces behind the renaissance of raunch, raciness, and utter disregard for rules, laws, and sometimes decency, was illustrator and author Sean Cliver. With his cohort Marc McKee and some occasional co-conspirators, Cliver went on to create several graphics that grew larger in popularity than the actual riders at times, but the biggest lanes they opened were ones that lead to commentary and controversy. Following owner Steve Rocco’s lead, Cliver and McKee were encouraged to mock convention and let their hormone-driven minds create a look that hadn’t been seen before. Exploring anything from satanic imagery, drugs, and even naked old people playing volleyball—a stark contrast to the skulls and serpents associated with skating at the time. Oh, and those are some of Cliver’s more “mellow” images. Once World started Big Brother, Cliver's cavalier attitude was a perfect fit for print, which parlayed into the crew forming the Jackass franchise, but that’s a separate and equally provocative story. One hallmark of Cliver’s work has been his wit and skill. He’s a pure illustrator. Like his idols before him, Cliver inked his way into skateboarding’s conscious, with his perverse takes on cartoon characters and social satire, becoming as iconic at any Pushead, Jim Phillips, or VC Johnson work. Despite his skateboarding pedigree and work in print, TV, film, and graphics, Cliver’s never actually owned a skateboard company—until now. Paisley Skates launched recently, with Cliver’s Serial Party deck selling out in roughly an hour. The San Francisco company is the vehicle for Cliver and fellow skater and artist Paul Urich. Cliver’s still pushing the limits of the graphic medium and continues to be one of the most important visual artists in skateboarding. The Creators Project: One thing that always struck me about your graphics was the sense of mischief in them. Were you a bad kid? Sean Cliver: No, not at all. In fact, just the other day my mom was telling my girlfriend how I was the “perfect child.” And most anyone that meets me finds it hard to believe I’m the same guy attached to all the things that I have been throughout the years, like Big Brother magazine, Jackass, and World Industries when it was owned by Steve Rocco. Morrissey may feel the need to wear black on the outside because that’s how he feels on the inside, but I’ve always favored a more understated demeanor. I’ve always had a fascination with the subversive, offensive, and controversial. When I was deep into comic books as a kid, it didn’t take long for me to dive straight through all the dudes in tights to the underground comix of the 60s and 70s: Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez, Richard Corben, Vaughn Bode, Dan O’Neill and the like. I had silly aspirations to become a comic artist, making several minicomics in my mid-teens, but my style was never so loose and flowing. I gravitated more and more to “one-off” illustrations, so once I discovered skateboarding and the attitudes and imagery that came along with it that became my whole new reason for being. What appealed to you about Pushead's work and the skate graphics you first connected with? Prior to skateboarding, I was already into horror, blood, and gore. Similar to my affair with comics, I sought out the best of the worst in cult films, or at least what I could find back then in the mid 80s—the era of the VHS tape—while living in central Wisconsin. Skulls, demons, all that stuff instantly grabbed me when I first walked into a skate shop, especially those central image graphics drawn with clean, technical precision. The classic Pushead Zorlacs, any of VCJ’s Powell-Peralta designs, and the first Jeff Grosso Demon board on Santa Cruz (which I only later discovered was “inspired” by a Virgil Finlay illustration): these were the decks that battled it out for my first hard-earned 50 bucks in 1986. The Powell Mike McGill Skull & Snake finally won out and I babied that board with every conceivable form of plastic accessory. Any scratches were dutifully retouched each and every night with Sharpies and Testor’s paint pens. Your work is technical—much like Pushead—what do you think of more "artsy" graphics that turn up on so many boards today? I can appreciate it, sure, but it’s never been my personal taste. When I first started skating in the 80s, anything with a more graphic design approach was completely off my radar: Sims, Vision, the earlier Brand-X boards, anything of a strictly geometric or “new wave” nature. It’s just not my thing. That said, I’ve always admired the work of say Mike Hill or Don Pendleton, where it’s a fine mix of illustration, design, and execution. Have you ever wanted to explore a different lane, like, "now I'm a painter" or do a cartoon for Adult Swim? Not really. Maybe because I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do and there aren’t really any boundaries; or maybe because I’m a perfectionist and hate being trumped by something I can’t master right away, like painting. I’ve only done about six or seven paintings in my life and they were all done under duress for slick bottoms in the 90s. They were crash courses in airbrush, oils, acrylics, and gouache...not to mention color. I’m a diehard pen ‘n’ inker. Colors are always an afterthought when I draw a graphic, and it’s only after I’ve finished the ink when I realize, ‘Shit, now how am I going to color this up?’ Skating's graphics have always really appealed to boys, but with it growing and being more diverse, what kind of stuff would you create for a brand like Meow or Hoopla? Hot dudes? Maybe. It’s about time someone jumped on Tom of Finland. But that’s the kind of graphic I would enjoy doing... something that no one would ever want to ride, let alone see printed on a board. What's the worst rip-off graphic you had to create or a rider recommended from back in the World heyday? Hands down the Chico Brenes Travelodge Bear for one of his “quick cash” World Industries models. This was in 1992, and what would usually happen then is that McKee or I would embark on some graphic for a slick bottom that would take three, sometimes four weeks to finish, so we’d have to supplant these works with some ego-less quickies in the interim. McKee would always find a more clever approach than what the rider originally requested. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for myself. My first Travelodge Bear rip off was so bad that Rocco made me redo it after the first run. And the second time around I just “improved” it by putting the “Travelodge” name on the board, because I couldn’t get past how inane a request it was. Regardless, that was no excuse for me to half-ass it, because that’s the kind of shit that can haunt you through life. I know this because I’m also responsible for being the drawing hand on the pictograph travesty for Tony Hawk’s Toe Knee Hawk Powell-Peralta model in 1990. That’s about as high-profile an embarrassment that one could ever hope to achieve. The Jenkem/Cliché collab was fantastic, who came up with the idea and do you think more subversive voices like Jenkem are keeping the spirit of Big Brother alive? It was a collaborative idea between Ian at Jenkem and Al Boglio at Cliché, world leaders hitting on some Jenkem, and I threw in a few details of my own, like the Illuminati nod and the iPhone action. I was just stoked they settled for me, because I respect what Jenkem is doing. What was funny about that graphic, though, is that I was in the process of finishing it up when that whole North Korea/The Interview deal blew up in the world news. Oh, and one trivial thing about the graphic: the design on Kim Jong’s iPhone case was an obscure, not to mention obscured, nod to a concept of mine that got nixed at Prime Skateboards in 1996 when Mark Oblow wanted to do a whole series of Sanrio characters meeting their demise—similar to the Blind Guy Mariano Bye Bye Kitty board I’d done in 1992 or ’93. Anyway, the gist of it was Hello Kitty getting raped by Keroppi the frog, and Oblow thought it was too gnarly. It's been exciting to see Paisley roll out so ominously. After all this time, why did you want to start a brand? About a year ago, I was interviewed by Chris Nieratko during the 10th anniversary re-release of Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art, and he touched upon the issue of how much artists get paid for a graphic and it caused a bit of a stink—or as much as anything does on the internet these days. Anyway, I was with my friend Nick Halkias at the time and I half-seriously joked about wanting to start a company where the sole purpose was to support artists in a more substantial way. Not only with decent pay, but to provide them with the potential for royalties, to really share in the success of a graphic. It seemed a bit of a pipe dream, like any idealistic hot flash, but he put me in touch with another friend of his in San Francisco, Paul Urich, who shared a similar fantasy. So the two of us started out with it in mind as a small project and it has slowly snowballed from there into an actual company—albeit a very a small one. Tells us everything you can about the brand, the art, artists, is there a team... the whole shit... it's exciting as hell. From the outset, our goal was to recreate some of that “early 90s” vibe we loved about skateboarding—the spirit, the shapes, the hand-screened application of graphics versus heat transfers—mix it up with a counterculture influence, and provide artists with a platform and the means to produce defining work. Sounds like skateboards for skate nerds, I guess, but we didn’t want to just make “wall hangers.” We wanted to make fully-functional, quality boards, and we were fortunate in that Paul Schmitt was willing to take us on as a customer. We’re only about to release our first two boards, one by me, the other by Grime. I first met him through collecting skateboards back in 2001, and only later discovered he was a ridiculously talented artist; Paul knew him through the tattoo world where he’s widely renowned for his work. Anyway, it’s been a hell of a learning process and we’re still trying to figure out a lot of shit, like being able to take on foreign distribution and sales, but right now it’s only us handling everything with some help from friends along the way. I assume the name has some connection to San Francisco, especially since you have a Zodiac Killer themed shirt, but why did you and Paul choose Paisley? We went through a long list of dumb names before settling on Paisley. Too many were already similar to something else, or sounded like something you would expect from a skateboard company (especially one focused on artists and graphics), like really on the nose. Paisley just seemed right. It smacked of a broader counterculture and rebellious vibe—not in a "flower power" way, but rather the more radical, underground sect of the time period that sought to bring down the establishment. That all sounds way too heavy and serious though, so I also want to credit Morrissey and Prince. Make of that what you will. …………………………………………………………………. Check my store for rare works by: Bumblebee, Shepard Fairey, Other, Liqen, Stinkfish, Aryz, Swoon, Hyuro, Iemza, Sten & Lex, Seacreative, Gaia, Jaz, Mesa, Ludo, Zilda, Know Hope, Bet Ever, Becca, El Mac, Nunca, Philippe Baudelocque, Specter, Luzinterruptus, Zoo Project, Conor Harrington, Eine, Steve Powers, Herbert Baglione, Fauxreel, C215, Slinkachu, Phlegm, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, M-City, Space Invader, Aakash Nihalani, Claudio Ethos, Ericailcane, Banksy, Ron English, EVOL, Interesni Kazki, Boxi, Vhils, Sam3, Escif, Roa, JR, Os Gemeos, Blu, Ben Frost, HUSH, Futura, SEEN, Lady Pink, Meggs, Retna, Mr. Brainwash, David Choe. 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Description
| Condition: | New: A brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging (where packaging is applicable). Packaging should be the same as what is found in a retail store, unless the item is handmade or was packaged by the manufacturer in non-retail packaging, such as an unprinted box or plastic bag. See the seller's listing for full details. See all condition definitions- opens in a new window or tab ... Read moreabout the condition | Brand: | Paisely Skates |
| Type: | Longboard | Model: | ULTRARARE |
| Country/Region of Manufacture: | United States | MPN: | Does Not Apply |
| UPC: | Does not apply |
You are bidding on brand new deck by Sean Cliver for Paisley Skates Sean Cliver “Dandy Horse Deck” ARTIST: Sean Cliver
DECK: Wood by PS Stix TITLE: Dandy Horse Deck TYPE: 9-color Hand-Silkscreened by Sleeping Skull SIZE: 8 1/2" x 32 1/4" • Nose: 7” • Tail: 6 5/8” • WB: 14 1/4” SIGNATURE: signed by Sean Cliver. DATE: 2016
Top of the deck might be different color than the one pictured. “Paisley skates and the artistes of big brother” – Article below taken from gorillaflicks.com website. ….. I've chosen to interview myself about this extra special, extra arty release from Paisley Skates. This is, after all, the Age of Enlightenment*. — Sean Cliver Sean: First things first, what is Paisley Skates? Sean: Great question. Real journalism 101, Norman Mailer. Regardless, I'm glad you asked, because it's a snappy little skateboard company I co-founded with Paul Urich. Our first set of boards came out last November and we've somehow managed to release a few more since then, thanks in part, or possibly in whole, to a small collective of friends and like-minded thinkers, like Nick Halkias and Mike Pipito, who have generously donated their time, talents, and esoteric interests to accelerate the cause. What, you have like some kinda Che Guevara thing going on? Sure, Che, why not. Aside from just keeping things in a progressively counterculture movement, our cause has to do with putting the paint back into graphics. By this, I mean we are going the extra mile and a three-quarters to have the graphics silk-screened by hand—just like they were in the '70s, '80s, and most of the '90s up until the more cost effective heat transfer process steamrolled into town. Some skaters care, many don't. Those that do are mostly the older generations that grew up with paint on the bottom of their boards and know that it slides on curbs and coping better than flaky-ass sheets and leaves a beautiful colored mess behind. I guess it all depends what you want out of a skateboard in the end… Like I always got off on the whole graphics and screen-printing aspect. Others could give a cold turd in the dead of night and just want a shape of 7-ply wood to roll, pop, and flip around on. To me it's always been a bit more than that, though, all occupational biases aside, because of—oh boy, here it comes!—its importance to skateboarding's visual mythology. Visual mythology? Are you high? No, quite the contrary, as I'm not a smoker of weed. In fact, I may have even been the only person other than Jeff Tremaine who wasn't high at the first Big Brother "Bong Olympics" in 1995. Anyway, I think we once stole that "visual mythology" phrase from Slap Magazine to use as a cover blurb on Big Brother Issue 38, so maybe they were high? Who knows, but I like your thoughtstyle. You should, because that was another Slap-inspired blurb for the cover of Issue 35. But let's get back to the point of this interview: these Paisley boards that I have coming out featuring art by , , Chris Pontius, and myself. You've changed. You used to be all about silly interviews with dumb questions and now you're just straight-up, no-nonsense promotion. Whatever, dude. Grow up. Like, did you even know that Pontius was an artist? Because he is. Of course I did. How could I forget that letter from him that was printed in Issue 11 of Big Brother back in 1994? Exactly, yeah, the "BMXican." Well, that was actually part of a larger body of work Pontius did throughout the ’90s, and that's where the piece came from that was used for his board graphic. I've always loved this drawing and was super stoked that he wanted to use it as a graphic. Is it true that you actually managed to get him to sign all of the boards? Yes! That was a pretty fun day. I picked Pontius up at his house in the hills of Hollywood and drove him down to the screen shop in the cuts of Carson where the boards were printed. As usual, the freeways were jammed, so it gave us ample time to shoot the breeze about San Luis Obispo/Central California skate history, what it's like doing the jackass comedy standup tour with all the guys, and many other things best not mentioned in this offhand, public manner. What about Carnie's board, how'd you decide on using that feline image for a graphic? Well, to backtrack a bit, one of the things we wanted to bring back when we started Paisley were slick bottoms. Slicks were real popular in the early- to mid-’90s and they really blew open the door for doing full color continuous tone graphics, like paintings, photos, and collages. So when we were finally able to make slicks a production reality at PS Stix, I knew right away that I wanted to use a photo by Carnie and a painting by Tremaine. This, of course, smacked of Big Brother, so we decided to do a series inspired as such with Carnie's studio print of Gary, because he was such a huge part of the magazine. Carnie even wrote up a special piece to be included with each board, "A Short List of Gary Factoids," which really rounds out his creative wheelhouse on this O.A.F.-shaped, Whale Cock-ish model. O.A.F.? Old as f. Although I think Dave refers to is as a "Fat Old Guy" shape, which would in fact be F.O.G., and actually makes just as much sense as O.A.F. in the end. Oh. And Tremaine's? Most people know of Tremaine as a director and producer, but before all that—even before his work as a layout jockey and art director on BMX, snow, and skate magazines—he was a painter. He even graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in fine art. But on the afternoon of Tremaine’s interview with Steve Rocco and Mike Ternasky for a position as Big Brother’s art/editorial director in the summer of 1992, he brought along a portfolio of his art. Once the interview was wrapped up, Rocco and Ternasky picked through all of his paintings and began dividing them up for slick bottom use between Blind, 101, and Plan B. Tremaine made more money in that one hour than most high end Beverly Hills escorts do in an entire evening! Anyway, later on in the ’90s he did some new paintings for Foundation, Prime, and Birdhouse, but then got tied up with this little cultural behemoth known as jackass in the aughts and hasn't been able to hit the easel as often as he once did. The “Devil & Babirusa” is in fact one of the few paintings he’s done since then and it’s the only board to feature his artwork since 1998. And Tremaine signed all of his decks, too? Yes. It took a few days, what with his busy schedule wrapping up the second season of Swerved on the WWE Network, but he managed to get through them all one stack at a time. And what pray tell do you want to say about your contribution to the series? Just that it was inspired from my daily dog walkings in Hollywood and all the stupid on streets that I see. Swear to god, every time I see some son of a tool riding around on one of these it makes me want to fly into a blind rage. Although, I think it angers me even more when I hear or see them referred to as "hoverboards," because clearly they don't hover. They have two wheels. Two stupid wheels that touch the stupid ground. That's not anywhere close to the dictionary definition of hovering. Did none of these idiots see Back to the Future? All right... lighten up, Francis. See? That's how badly these things affect me. When I was trying to work through these irrationalities with Carnie, he told me that he refers to these two-wheeled dumbmobiles as "Dandy Horses." This actually helped to calm me a bit, not to mention the fact it provided me with a new purpose in life: to promote the Dandy Horse label. In all seriousness, though, I'm normally not the inspirational quote kind of guy, but this one by cartoonist Robert Crumb really sums it up well: "I'm just a negative person, a deeply negative person. I see the worst aspects in everything." Please learn more and read this great article from Vice.com Sean Cliver on Skate Graphics… In the 90s, World Industries’ art department was responsible for redefining what a skateboard graphic could be as well as completely changing the format and tone of skate magazines. One of the driving forces behind the renaissance of raunch, raciness, and utter disregard for rules, laws, and sometimes decency, was illustrator and author Sean Cliver. With his cohort Marc McKee and some occasional co-conspirators, Cliver went on to create several graphics that grew larger in popularity than the actual riders at times, but the biggest lanes they opened were ones that lead to commentary and controversy. Following owner Steve Rocco’s lead, Cliver and McKee were encouraged to mock convention and let their hormone-driven minds create a look that hadn’t been seen before. Exploring anything from satanic imagery, drugs, and even naked old people playing volleyball—a stark contrast to the skulls and serpents associated with skating at the time. Oh, and those are some of Cliver’s more “mellow” images. Once World started Big Brother, Cliver's cavalier attitude was a perfect fit for print, which parlayed into the crew forming the Jackass franchise, but that’s a separate and equally provocative story. One hallmark of Cliver’s work has been his wit and skill. He’s a pure illustrator. Like his idols before him, Cliver inked his way into skateboarding’s conscious, with his perverse takes on cartoon characters and social satire, becoming as iconic at any Pushead, Jim Phillips, or VC Johnson work. Despite his skateboarding pedigree and work in print, TV, film, and graphics, Cliver’s never actually owned a skateboard company—until now. Paisley Skates launched recently, with Cliver’s Serial Party deck selling out in roughly an hour. The San Francisco company is the vehicle for Cliver and fellow skater and artist Paul Urich. Cliver’s still pushing the limits of the graphic medium and continues to be one of the most important visual artists in skateboarding. The Creators Project: One thing that always struck me about your graphics was the sense of mischief in them. Were you a bad kid? Sean Cliver: No, not at all. In fact, just the other day my mom was telling my girlfriend how I was the “perfect child.” And most anyone that meets me finds it hard to believe I’m the same guy attached to all the things that I have been throughout the years, like Big Brother magazine, Jackass, and World Industries when it was owned by Steve Rocco. Morrissey may feel the need to wear black on the outside because that’s how he feels on the inside, but I’ve always favored a more understated demeanor. I’ve always had a fascination with the subversive, offensive, and controversial. When I was deep into comic books as a kid, it didn’t take long for me to dive straight through all the dudes in tights to the underground comix of the 60s and 70s: Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez, Richard Corben, Vaughn Bode, Dan O’Neill and the like. I had silly aspirations to become a comic artist, making several minicomics in my mid-teens, but my style was never so loose and flowing. I gravitated more and more to “one-off” illustrations, so once I discovered skateboarding and the attitudes and imagery that came along with it that became my whole new reason for being. What appealed to you about Pushead's work and the skate graphics you first connected with? Prior to skateboarding, I was already into horror, blood, and gore. Similar to my affair with comics, I sought out the best of the worst in cult films, or at least what I could find back then in the mid 80s—the era of the VHS tape—while living in central Wisconsin. Skulls, demons, all that stuff instantly grabbed me when I first walked into a skate shop, especially those central image graphics drawn with clean, technical precision. The classic Pushead Zorlacs, any of VCJ’s Powell-Peralta designs, and the first Jeff Grosso Demon board on Santa Cruz (which I only later discovered was “inspired” by a Virgil Finlay illustration): these were the decks that battled it out for my first hard-earned 50 bucks in 1986. The Powell Mike McGill Skull & Snake finally won out and I babied that board with every conceivable form of plastic accessory. Any scratches were dutifully retouched each and every night with Sharpies and Testor’s paint pens. Your work is technical—much like Pushead—what do you think of more "artsy" graphics that turn up on so many boards today? I can appreciate it, sure, but it’s never been my personal taste. When I first started skating in the 80s, anything with a more graphic design approach was completely off my radar: Sims, Vision, the earlier Brand-X boards, anything of a strictly geometric or “new wave” nature. It’s just not my thing. That said, I’ve always admired the work of say Mike Hill or Don Pendleton, where it’s a fine mix of illustration, design, and execution. Have you ever wanted to explore a different lane, like, "now I'm a painter" or do a cartoon for Adult Swim? Not really. Maybe because I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do and there aren’t really any boundaries; or maybe because I’m a perfectionist and hate being trumped by something I can’t master right away, like painting. I’ve only done about six or seven paintings in my life and they were all done under duress for slick bottoms in the 90s. They were crash courses in airbrush, oils, acrylics, and gouache...not to mention color. I’m a diehard pen ‘n’ inker. Colors are always an afterthought when I draw a graphic, and it’s only after I’ve finished the ink when I realize, ‘Shit, now how am I going to color this up?’ Skating's graphics have always really appealed to boys, but with it growing and being more diverse, what kind of stuff would you create for a brand like Meow or Hoopla? Hot dudes? Maybe. It’s about time someone jumped on Tom of Finland. But that’s the kind of graphic I would enjoy doing... something that no one would ever want to ride, let alone see printed on a board. What's the worst rip-off graphic you had to create or a rider recommended from back in the World heyday? Hands down the Chico Brenes Travelodge Bear for one of his “quick cash” World Industries models. This was in 1992, and what would usually happen then is that McKee or I would embark on some graphic for a slick bottom that would take three, sometimes four weeks to finish, so we’d have to supplant these works with some ego-less quickies in the interim. McKee would always find a more clever approach than what the rider originally requested. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for myself. My first Travelodge Bear rip off was so bad that Rocco made me redo it after the first run. And the second time around I just “improved” it by putting the “Travelodge” name on the board, because I couldn’t get past how inane a request it was. Regardless, that was no excuse for me to half-ass it, because that’s the kind of shit that can haunt you through life. I know this because I’m also responsible for being the drawing hand on the pictograph travesty for Tony Hawk’s Toe Knee Hawk Powell-Peralta model in 1990. That’s about as high-profile an embarrassment that one could ever hope to achieve. The Jenkem/Cliché collab was fantastic, who came up with the idea and do you think more subversive voices like Jenkem are keeping the spirit of Big Brother alive? It was a collaborative idea between Ian at Jenkem and Al Boglio at Cliché, world leaders hitting on some Jenkem, and I threw in a few details of my own, like the Illuminati nod and the iPhone action. I was just stoked they settled for me, because I respect what Jenkem is doing. What was funny about that graphic, though, is that I was in the process of finishing it up when that whole North Korea/The Interview deal blew up in the world news. Oh, and one trivial thing about the graphic: the design on Kim Jong’s iPhone case was an obscure, not to mention obscured, nod to a concept of mine that got nixed at Prime Skateboards in 1996 when Mark Oblow wanted to do a whole series of Sanrio characters meeting their demise—similar to the Blind Guy Mariano Bye Bye Kitty board I’d done in 1992 or ’93. Anyway, the gist of it was Hello Kitty getting raped by Keroppi the frog, and Oblow thought it was too gnarly. It's been exciting to see Paisley roll out so ominously. After all this time, why did you want to start a brand? About a year ago, I was interviewed by Chris Nieratko during the 10th anniversary re-release of Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art, and he touched upon the issue of how much artists get paid for a graphic and it caused a bit of a stink—or as much as anything does on the internet these days. Anyway, I was with my friend Nick Halkias at the time and I half-seriously joked about wanting to start a company where the sole purpose was to support artists in a more substantial way. Not only with decent pay, but to provide them with the potential for royalties, to really share in the success of a graphic. It seemed a bit of a pipe dream, like any idealistic hot flash, but he put me in touch with another friend of his in San Francisco, Paul Urich, who shared a similar fantasy. So the two of us started out with it in mind as a small project and it has slowly snowballed from there into an actual company—albeit a very a small one. Tells us everything you can about the brand, the art, artists, is there a team... the whole shit... it's exciting as hell. From the outset, our goal was to recreate some of that “early 90s” vibe we loved about skateboarding—the spirit, the shapes, the hand-screened application of graphics versus heat transfers—mix it up with a counterculture influence, and provide artists with a platform and the means to produce defining work. Sounds like skateboards for skate nerds, I guess, but we didn’t want to just make “wall hangers.” We wanted to make fully-functional, quality boards, and we were fortunate in that Paul Schmitt was willing to take us on as a customer. We’re only about to release our first two boards, one by me, the other by Grime. I first met him through collecting skateboards back in 2001, and only later discovered he was a ridiculously talented artist; Paul knew him through the tattoo world where he’s widely renowned for his work. Anyway, it’s been a hell of a learning process and we’re still trying to figure out a lot of shit, like being able to take on foreign distribution and sales, but right now it’s only us handling everything with some help from friends along the way. I assume the name has some connection to San Francisco, especially since you have a Zodiac Killer themed shirt, but why did you and Paul choose Paisley? We went through a long list of dumb names before settling on Paisley. Too many were already similar to something else, or sounded like something you would expect from a skateboard company (especially one focused on artists and graphics), like really on the nose. Paisley just seemed right. It smacked of a broader counterculture and rebellious vibe—not in a "flower power" way, but rather the more radical, underground sect of the time period that sought to bring down the establishment. That all sounds way too heavy and serious though, so I also want to credit Morrissey and Prince. Make of that what you will. …………………………………………………………………. Check my store for rare works by: Bumblebee, Shepard Fairey, Other, Liqen, Stinkfish, Aryz, Swoon, Hyuro, Iemza, Sten & Lex, Seacreative, Gaia, Jaz, Mesa, Ludo, Zilda, Know Hope, Bet Ever, Becca, El Mac, Nunca, Philippe Baudelocque, Specter, Luzinterruptus, Zoo Project, Conor Harrington, Eine, Steve Powers, Herbert Baglione, Fauxreel, C215, Slinkachu, Phlegm, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, M-City, Space Invader, Aakash Nihalani, Claudio Ethos, Ericailcane, Banksy, Ron English, EVOL, Interesni Kazki, Boxi, Vhils, Sam3, Escif, Roa, JR, Os Gemeos, Blu, Ben Frost, HUSH, Futura, SEEN, Lady Pink, Meggs, Retna, Mr. Brainwash, David Choe. Return Policy: We try to be fair and accurate with all my auctions and descriptions. Please read each auction and bid carefully. All items are sold "AS IS" and there will be no returns based on condition or any other reason. Please read descriptions and ask any questions before you bid/purchase the item. Some items sold (antique prints, paintings, books…) are often of considerable age and will exhibit wear, usage and damage often not listed. The absence of condition remarks in the auction description entry DOES NOT mean the item is in perfect condition. Prospective buyers are in ALL CASES responsible for determining the physical condition based on photos provided. We will make every attempt possible to resolve the issue if we made a mistake. If there is a problem, we can work together to resolve it. I have always been extremely fair and resolved all issues. Please note that if a refund is given it will only be for the cost of the item. All returns will include 20% restocking fee. Shipping and Handling is buyer’s responsibility and is nonrefundable.
DECK: Wood by PS Stix TITLE: Dandy Horse Deck TYPE: 9-color Hand-Silkscreened by Sleeping Skull SIZE: 8 1/2" x 32 1/4" • Nose: 7” • Tail: 6 5/8” • WB: 14 1/4” SIGNATURE: signed by Sean Cliver. DATE: 2016
Top of the deck might be different color than the one pictured. “Paisley skates and the artistes of big brother” – Article below taken from gorillaflicks.com website. ….. I've chosen to interview myself about this extra special, extra arty release from Paisley Skates. This is, after all, the Age of Enlightenment*. — Sean Cliver Sean: First things first, what is Paisley Skates? Sean: Great question. Real journalism 101, Norman Mailer. Regardless, I'm glad you asked, because it's a snappy little skateboard company I co-founded with Paul Urich. Our first set of boards came out last November and we've somehow managed to release a few more since then, thanks in part, or possibly in whole, to a small collective of friends and like-minded thinkers, like Nick Halkias and Mike Pipito, who have generously donated their time, talents, and esoteric interests to accelerate the cause. What, you have like some kinda Che Guevara thing going on? Sure, Che, why not. Aside from just keeping things in a progressively counterculture movement, our cause has to do with putting the paint back into graphics. By this, I mean we are going the extra mile and a three-quarters to have the graphics silk-screened by hand—just like they were in the '70s, '80s, and most of the '90s up until the more cost effective heat transfer process steamrolled into town. Some skaters care, many don't. Those that do are mostly the older generations that grew up with paint on the bottom of their boards and know that it slides on curbs and coping better than flaky-ass sheets and leaves a beautiful colored mess behind. I guess it all depends what you want out of a skateboard in the end… Like I always got off on the whole graphics and screen-printing aspect. Others could give a cold turd in the dead of night and just want a shape of 7-ply wood to roll, pop, and flip around on. To me it's always been a bit more than that, though, all occupational biases aside, because of—oh boy, here it comes!—its importance to skateboarding's visual mythology. Visual mythology? Are you high? No, quite the contrary, as I'm not a smoker of weed. In fact, I may have even been the only person other than Jeff Tremaine who wasn't high at the first Big Brother "Bong Olympics" in 1995. Anyway, I think we once stole that "visual mythology" phrase from Slap Magazine to use as a cover blurb on Big Brother Issue 38, so maybe they were high? Who knows, but I like your thoughtstyle. You should, because that was another Slap-inspired blurb for the cover of Issue 35. But let's get back to the point of this interview: these Paisley boards that I have coming out featuring art by , , Chris Pontius, and myself. You've changed. You used to be all about silly interviews with dumb questions and now you're just straight-up, no-nonsense promotion. Whatever, dude. Grow up. Like, did you even know that Pontius was an artist? Because he is. Of course I did. How could I forget that letter from him that was printed in Issue 11 of Big Brother back in 1994? Exactly, yeah, the "BMXican." Well, that was actually part of a larger body of work Pontius did throughout the ’90s, and that's where the piece came from that was used for his board graphic. I've always loved this drawing and was super stoked that he wanted to use it as a graphic. Is it true that you actually managed to get him to sign all of the boards? Yes! That was a pretty fun day. I picked Pontius up at his house in the hills of Hollywood and drove him down to the screen shop in the cuts of Carson where the boards were printed. As usual, the freeways were jammed, so it gave us ample time to shoot the breeze about San Luis Obispo/Central California skate history, what it's like doing the jackass comedy standup tour with all the guys, and many other things best not mentioned in this offhand, public manner. What about Carnie's board, how'd you decide on using that feline image for a graphic? Well, to backtrack a bit, one of the things we wanted to bring back when we started Paisley were slick bottoms. Slicks were real popular in the early- to mid-’90s and they really blew open the door for doing full color continuous tone graphics, like paintings, photos, and collages. So when we were finally able to make slicks a production reality at PS Stix, I knew right away that I wanted to use a photo by Carnie and a painting by Tremaine. This, of course, smacked of Big Brother, so we decided to do a series inspired as such with Carnie's studio print of Gary, because he was such a huge part of the magazine. Carnie even wrote up a special piece to be included with each board, "A Short List of Gary Factoids," which really rounds out his creative wheelhouse on this O.A.F.-shaped, Whale Cock-ish model. O.A.F.? Old as f. Although I think Dave refers to is as a "Fat Old Guy" shape, which would in fact be F.O.G., and actually makes just as much sense as O.A.F. in the end. Oh. And Tremaine's? Most people know of Tremaine as a director and producer, but before all that—even before his work as a layout jockey and art director on BMX, snow, and skate magazines—he was a painter. He even graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in fine art. But on the afternoon of Tremaine’s interview with Steve Rocco and Mike Ternasky for a position as Big Brother’s art/editorial director in the summer of 1992, he brought along a portfolio of his art. Once the interview was wrapped up, Rocco and Ternasky picked through all of his paintings and began dividing them up for slick bottom use between Blind, 101, and Plan B. Tremaine made more money in that one hour than most high end Beverly Hills escorts do in an entire evening! Anyway, later on in the ’90s he did some new paintings for Foundation, Prime, and Birdhouse, but then got tied up with this little cultural behemoth known as jackass in the aughts and hasn't been able to hit the easel as often as he once did. The “Devil & Babirusa” is in fact one of the few paintings he’s done since then and it’s the only board to feature his artwork since 1998. And Tremaine signed all of his decks, too? Yes. It took a few days, what with his busy schedule wrapping up the second season of Swerved on the WWE Network, but he managed to get through them all one stack at a time. And what pray tell do you want to say about your contribution to the series? Just that it was inspired from my daily dog walkings in Hollywood and all the stupid on streets that I see. Swear to god, every time I see some son of a tool riding around on one of these it makes me want to fly into a blind rage. Although, I think it angers me even more when I hear or see them referred to as "hoverboards," because clearly they don't hover. They have two wheels. Two stupid wheels that touch the stupid ground. That's not anywhere close to the dictionary definition of hovering. Did none of these idiots see Back to the Future? All right... lighten up, Francis. See? That's how badly these things affect me. When I was trying to work through these irrationalities with Carnie, he told me that he refers to these two-wheeled dumbmobiles as "Dandy Horses." This actually helped to calm me a bit, not to mention the fact it provided me with a new purpose in life: to promote the Dandy Horse label. In all seriousness, though, I'm normally not the inspirational quote kind of guy, but this one by cartoonist Robert Crumb really sums it up well: "I'm just a negative person, a deeply negative person. I see the worst aspects in everything." Please learn more and read this great article from Vice.com Sean Cliver on Skate Graphics… In the 90s, World Industries’ art department was responsible for redefining what a skateboard graphic could be as well as completely changing the format and tone of skate magazines. One of the driving forces behind the renaissance of raunch, raciness, and utter disregard for rules, laws, and sometimes decency, was illustrator and author Sean Cliver. With his cohort Marc McKee and some occasional co-conspirators, Cliver went on to create several graphics that grew larger in popularity than the actual riders at times, but the biggest lanes they opened were ones that lead to commentary and controversy. Following owner Steve Rocco’s lead, Cliver and McKee were encouraged to mock convention and let their hormone-driven minds create a look that hadn’t been seen before. Exploring anything from satanic imagery, drugs, and even naked old people playing volleyball—a stark contrast to the skulls and serpents associated with skating at the time. Oh, and those are some of Cliver’s more “mellow” images. Once World started Big Brother, Cliver's cavalier attitude was a perfect fit for print, which parlayed into the crew forming the Jackass franchise, but that’s a separate and equally provocative story. One hallmark of Cliver’s work has been his wit and skill. He’s a pure illustrator. Like his idols before him, Cliver inked his way into skateboarding’s conscious, with his perverse takes on cartoon characters and social satire, becoming as iconic at any Pushead, Jim Phillips, or VC Johnson work. Despite his skateboarding pedigree and work in print, TV, film, and graphics, Cliver’s never actually owned a skateboard company—until now. Paisley Skates launched recently, with Cliver’s Serial Party deck selling out in roughly an hour. The San Francisco company is the vehicle for Cliver and fellow skater and artist Paul Urich. Cliver’s still pushing the limits of the graphic medium and continues to be one of the most important visual artists in skateboarding. The Creators Project: One thing that always struck me about your graphics was the sense of mischief in them. Were you a bad kid? Sean Cliver: No, not at all. In fact, just the other day my mom was telling my girlfriend how I was the “perfect child.” And most anyone that meets me finds it hard to believe I’m the same guy attached to all the things that I have been throughout the years, like Big Brother magazine, Jackass, and World Industries when it was owned by Steve Rocco. Morrissey may feel the need to wear black on the outside because that’s how he feels on the inside, but I’ve always favored a more understated demeanor. I’ve always had a fascination with the subversive, offensive, and controversial. When I was deep into comic books as a kid, it didn’t take long for me to dive straight through all the dudes in tights to the underground comix of the 60s and 70s: Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez, Richard Corben, Vaughn Bode, Dan O’Neill and the like. I had silly aspirations to become a comic artist, making several minicomics in my mid-teens, but my style was never so loose and flowing. I gravitated more and more to “one-off” illustrations, so once I discovered skateboarding and the attitudes and imagery that came along with it that became my whole new reason for being. What appealed to you about Pushead's work and the skate graphics you first connected with? Prior to skateboarding, I was already into horror, blood, and gore. Similar to my affair with comics, I sought out the best of the worst in cult films, or at least what I could find back then in the mid 80s—the era of the VHS tape—while living in central Wisconsin. Skulls, demons, all that stuff instantly grabbed me when I first walked into a skate shop, especially those central image graphics drawn with clean, technical precision. The classic Pushead Zorlacs, any of VCJ’s Powell-Peralta designs, and the first Jeff Grosso Demon board on Santa Cruz (which I only later discovered was “inspired” by a Virgil Finlay illustration): these were the decks that battled it out for my first hard-earned 50 bucks in 1986. The Powell Mike McGill Skull & Snake finally won out and I babied that board with every conceivable form of plastic accessory. Any scratches were dutifully retouched each and every night with Sharpies and Testor’s paint pens. Your work is technical—much like Pushead—what do you think of more "artsy" graphics that turn up on so many boards today? I can appreciate it, sure, but it’s never been my personal taste. When I first started skating in the 80s, anything with a more graphic design approach was completely off my radar: Sims, Vision, the earlier Brand-X boards, anything of a strictly geometric or “new wave” nature. It’s just not my thing. That said, I’ve always admired the work of say Mike Hill or Don Pendleton, where it’s a fine mix of illustration, design, and execution. Have you ever wanted to explore a different lane, like, "now I'm a painter" or do a cartoon for Adult Swim? Not really. Maybe because I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do and there aren’t really any boundaries; or maybe because I’m a perfectionist and hate being trumped by something I can’t master right away, like painting. I’ve only done about six or seven paintings in my life and they were all done under duress for slick bottoms in the 90s. They were crash courses in airbrush, oils, acrylics, and gouache...not to mention color. I’m a diehard pen ‘n’ inker. Colors are always an afterthought when I draw a graphic, and it’s only after I’ve finished the ink when I realize, ‘Shit, now how am I going to color this up?’ Skating's graphics have always really appealed to boys, but with it growing and being more diverse, what kind of stuff would you create for a brand like Meow or Hoopla? Hot dudes? Maybe. It’s about time someone jumped on Tom of Finland. But that’s the kind of graphic I would enjoy doing... something that no one would ever want to ride, let alone see printed on a board. What's the worst rip-off graphic you had to create or a rider recommended from back in the World heyday? Hands down the Chico Brenes Travelodge Bear for one of his “quick cash” World Industries models. This was in 1992, and what would usually happen then is that McKee or I would embark on some graphic for a slick bottom that would take three, sometimes four weeks to finish, so we’d have to supplant these works with some ego-less quickies in the interim. McKee would always find a more clever approach than what the rider originally requested. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for myself. My first Travelodge Bear rip off was so bad that Rocco made me redo it after the first run. And the second time around I just “improved” it by putting the “Travelodge” name on the board, because I couldn’t get past how inane a request it was. Regardless, that was no excuse for me to half-ass it, because that’s the kind of shit that can haunt you through life. I know this because I’m also responsible for being the drawing hand on the pictograph travesty for Tony Hawk’s Toe Knee Hawk Powell-Peralta model in 1990. That’s about as high-profile an embarrassment that one could ever hope to achieve. The Jenkem/Cliché collab was fantastic, who came up with the idea and do you think more subversive voices like Jenkem are keeping the spirit of Big Brother alive? It was a collaborative idea between Ian at Jenkem and Al Boglio at Cliché, world leaders hitting on some Jenkem, and I threw in a few details of my own, like the Illuminati nod and the iPhone action. I was just stoked they settled for me, because I respect what Jenkem is doing. What was funny about that graphic, though, is that I was in the process of finishing it up when that whole North Korea/The Interview deal blew up in the world news. Oh, and one trivial thing about the graphic: the design on Kim Jong’s iPhone case was an obscure, not to mention obscured, nod to a concept of mine that got nixed at Prime Skateboards in 1996 when Mark Oblow wanted to do a whole series of Sanrio characters meeting their demise—similar to the Blind Guy Mariano Bye Bye Kitty board I’d done in 1992 or ’93. Anyway, the gist of it was Hello Kitty getting raped by Keroppi the frog, and Oblow thought it was too gnarly. It's been exciting to see Paisley roll out so ominously. After all this time, why did you want to start a brand? About a year ago, I was interviewed by Chris Nieratko during the 10th anniversary re-release of Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art, and he touched upon the issue of how much artists get paid for a graphic and it caused a bit of a stink—or as much as anything does on the internet these days. Anyway, I was with my friend Nick Halkias at the time and I half-seriously joked about wanting to start a company where the sole purpose was to support artists in a more substantial way. Not only with decent pay, but to provide them with the potential for royalties, to really share in the success of a graphic. It seemed a bit of a pipe dream, like any idealistic hot flash, but he put me in touch with another friend of his in San Francisco, Paul Urich, who shared a similar fantasy. So the two of us started out with it in mind as a small project and it has slowly snowballed from there into an actual company—albeit a very a small one. Tells us everything you can about the brand, the art, artists, is there a team... the whole shit... it's exciting as hell. From the outset, our goal was to recreate some of that “early 90s” vibe we loved about skateboarding—the spirit, the shapes, the hand-screened application of graphics versus heat transfers—mix it up with a counterculture influence, and provide artists with a platform and the means to produce defining work. Sounds like skateboards for skate nerds, I guess, but we didn’t want to just make “wall hangers.” We wanted to make fully-functional, quality boards, and we were fortunate in that Paul Schmitt was willing to take us on as a customer. We’re only about to release our first two boards, one by me, the other by Grime. I first met him through collecting skateboards back in 2001, and only later discovered he was a ridiculously talented artist; Paul knew him through the tattoo world where he’s widely renowned for his work. Anyway, it’s been a hell of a learning process and we’re still trying to figure out a lot of shit, like being able to take on foreign distribution and sales, but right now it’s only us handling everything with some help from friends along the way. I assume the name has some connection to San Francisco, especially since you have a Zodiac Killer themed shirt, but why did you and Paul choose Paisley? We went through a long list of dumb names before settling on Paisley. Too many were already similar to something else, or sounded like something you would expect from a skateboard company (especially one focused on artists and graphics), like really on the nose. Paisley just seemed right. It smacked of a broader counterculture and rebellious vibe—not in a "flower power" way, but rather the more radical, underground sect of the time period that sought to bring down the establishment. That all sounds way too heavy and serious though, so I also want to credit Morrissey and Prince. Make of that what you will. …………………………………………………………………. Check my store for rare works by: Bumblebee, Shepard Fairey, Other, Liqen, Stinkfish, Aryz, Swoon, Hyuro, Iemza, Sten & Lex, Seacreative, Gaia, Jaz, Mesa, Ludo, Zilda, Know Hope, Bet Ever, Becca, El Mac, Nunca, Philippe Baudelocque, Specter, Luzinterruptus, Zoo Project, Conor Harrington, Eine, Steve Powers, Herbert Baglione, Fauxreel, C215, Slinkachu, Phlegm, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, M-City, Space Invader, Aakash Nihalani, Claudio Ethos, Ericailcane, Banksy, Ron English, EVOL, Interesni Kazki, Boxi, Vhils, Sam3, Escif, Roa, JR, Os Gemeos, Blu, Ben Frost, HUSH, Futura, SEEN, Lady Pink, Meggs, Retna, Mr. Brainwash, David Choe. Return Policy: We try to be fair and accurate with all my auctions and descriptions. Please read each auction and bid carefully. All items are sold "AS IS" and there will be no returns based on condition or any other reason. Please read descriptions and ask any questions before you bid/purchase the item. Some items sold (antique prints, paintings, books…) are often of considerable age and will exhibit wear, usage and damage often not listed. The absence of condition remarks in the auction description entry DOES NOT mean the item is in perfect condition. Prospective buyers are in ALL CASES responsible for determining the physical condition based on photos provided. We will make every attempt possible to resolve the issue if we made a mistake. If there is a problem, we can work together to resolve it. I have always been extremely fair and resolved all issues. Please note that if a refund is given it will only be for the cost of the item. All returns will include 20% restocking fee. Shipping and Handling is buyer’s responsibility and is nonrefundable.