JEFF GILLETTE x SK8 of the ART 'Wal-Mart' (2023) Skateboard Deck

'Wal-Mart' by Jeff Gillette, 2023
Limited Edition Skateboard deck collab. with Sk8 of the Art x Signari Gallery.
Based on the artist's original painting on skateboard deck from early 2022.
8 x 31.25 Inches
Archival pigment print transfer on 7-layer Canadian Maple hardwood skate deck.
Limited Edition of 50.
Hand-numbered custom deck top label with artist and gallery logos.
New in shrink wrap with Jeff Gillette hand-signed Sk8 of the Art COA.

*Note: Skate Deck wall hangers sold separately.

ARTIST BIO

"I am from the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. In the late 1980s I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal for two years. During this two-year stint, I visited every major city in India, finding myself exploring the huge slums found there. On my return to home, I moved from the Mid-West to escape the snow to teach High School Art in Orange County, California. Since finishing my MFA at Cal State Fullerton, I have been exhibiting in galleries both at home and abroad.

My work is most often landscapes. A major portion of my output is paintings of slums of the developing world, where I often add an element of western cultural privilege (and oblivion) into settings of urban blight. Inspiration for what I call “Slumscapes” comes from first-hand experience travelling. Most often I return over and over to my favorite destination: India. In the vast poverty-stricken fringes of its vast megalopolises I trip out on how the economic disparities are obscenely extreme. I’ve been spending a lot of time in Mumbai slums: photographing, filming, creating Plein Aire paintings and creating interactive street art.

Besides depicting slums, my artwork portrays post-apocalyptic debris fields, landfills, and detritus-cluttered deserts. The Juxtaposition of Disney themes and beloved characters (i.e.: Mickey Mouse) with all these dystopias best conveys my personal views. Pondering contemporary social, political, economical and philosophical conundrums, I can’t help but feel absurdly helpless, pessimistic and humored about the future of Western Civilization…"

- Jeff Gillette