paul mccarthy
the skateroom
American renowned artist and veteran provocateur McCarthy simply doesn’t stop to impress. Last October he was giving Parisians a piece of his mind through his green ‘Butt Plug’ monumental sculpture for the FIAC Art Fair. Vandals then had cut the cables of the 25-meter inflated sculpture in the Place Vendôme - the day after McCarthy answered back by re-erecting the tree and producing 250 chocolate Father Christmas figures per day for one month, each graced with a butt plug. It was a quintessential month for Parisians where the majority of conversations suddenly centered around anal plugs…
Anyway, his next project certainly took him to a very different direction.
“Through this collection, The Skateroom and Paul McCarthy aim to entirely finance the building of Skateistan’s first skate school on the African continent, in central Johannesburg. The innovative facility will use “the hook” of skateboarding to connect vulnerable youth to educational and leadership opportunities. The vision is for Skateistan South Africa’s skate school to serve as a regional training hub for skateboard-based, youth-development projects. The skate park and educational facility will help bridge socio-economic differences through skateboarding and educational activities amongst the youth of the city and its suburbs.“
To make it happen he designed ten skateboards in collaboration with non-profit organization The Skateroom - featuring designs from McCarthy’s celebrated PROPO series. The boards are limited to 250 each, and the first 35 of each design will be reserved for a signed collector’s set.