Haroshi is a Japanese sculpture who creates beautiful works of art from old skateboards. While to us novices they may all seem the same, skateboard structure varies according to factory, brand or popular skater’s signature models.
From his early teens Hiroshi has been a passionate skateboarder. His connection to skateboards goes beyond the sport and his choice of art portrays this. His creations reflect his spirit and aesthetic as a Japanese, for him the art pieces are equal to his skateboards and as a major part of his life they also serve as a means of communicating with himself and with the outside world.
Being a passionate skateboarder from his early teens, Haroshi has a thorough knowledge of skateboards, he collects broken skateboard parts he then sorts the decks according to deck stocks. These stacks of decks are then used as the base of his sculptures.
Haroshi uses a technique similar to how traditionally giant Buddha statues were made in Japan, he stacks and adheres the decks then cuts, shaves and polishes them to create his art pieces. Sometimes he cuts them into smaller pieces first, similar to mosaic work, sometimes he leaves larger pieces of the original skateboard and sometimes he leaves broken, unpolished parts of the wood decks.
Another reflection of his Japanese heritage is incorporating a hidden object inside the sculpture that becomes “the soul” of the piece. This was traditionally done by a 12th century Japanese sculpture of Buddhas who used to set a crystal ball in the position of the Buddha’s heart, Hiroshi hides inside his pieces a metal part from a broken skateboard or a failed Big Make attempt.
When I look at these beautiful crafted pieces I feel as if they do have a soul that they are reaching out to me, trying to tell me their life story.
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