If there ever was a King Kong of the concrete jungle in Christchurch, it would be Embassy. One of the longest running skate stores in Christchurch and a mecca for the discerning graffiti artist; they supply not only decks and sweet threads from local and international brands but also boast an enormous range of word class spray paints.
Embassy has supported various creative communities for many years - being sponsors for a wide range of murals (you may remember this one from our very first First Thursdays event?), skate and street art projects. In June, they hosted Auckland artists Dirk and Chippy for some live art making.
This time around they have generously supplied a number of blank skate decks to artists selected to be part of the Concrete Jungle exhibition.
Artists were invited to make artworks on skate decks, in a playful and subversive melding of 'fine' art street and skate culture. These works will be on display in their shop at 451 Colombo St as part of First Thursdays: Welcome to the Jungle.
This exhibition harks back to pre-quake times, when CoCA hosted over 100 original artworks on skateboards in an annual Board Art exhibition. This has gone on to spawn similiar shows, where skateboards commandeered white walled gallery spaces all around the country.
We're really looking forward to seeing some new works by a wide range of emerging and established artists for this show. Join us for the opening of it on the 3 December!
Featuring work by:
Brian Johnson
Brent Ski
Carlos O'Brien
Dayna Upston
Frankie Bakker
Holly-Marie Amos
Jordan Tier
Josh Bradshaw
Leif MacEwan
Lucia Felicitas
Miles Harty
Nick Jones
Rachel Webb
Tristan Knowles
Tuha Tuimaka
Wongi Wilson