We humans love nostalgia. Who doesn’t get immense joy looking back on fond memories. It’s a beautiful thing.
Figuring out this gallery’s story was initially a struggle. It floated in the back of my mind for weeks until a flood of oxytocin brought it to shore. I went to the book shelf one day and cracked open: Do/Design: Why Beauty is the Key to Everything.
The first chapter page is arresting. If you manage to finish reflecting on it, you’re stuck wondering why there are even any more pages to this book.
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When a skateboarder makes it to a famous skate spot, the first thing that goes through their head is imagining all the unbelievable things that have been done there. The more legendary the spot, the closer your jaw is to the floor.
But there’s more. What is it like to actually roll up to it; the ledge, the gap, the rail, the stairs, the drop? Wind up about 20 feet, drop your board down and ride up to a visceral fantasy.
It’s beautiful.
Checking out the Maloof course before the contest delivered a tingle and goosebumps. Sometimes it’s the anticipation that gets you. It wasn’t about what had already been done, it was knowing who was there to do something—it was those same people who transform architecture into things of legend.
Walking around, I’d step up to the set of stairs and imagine what it would be like do a frontside flip down it. Or looking at one of the down ledges and imagining all the tricks I’d never want to try because it would scare the shit out of me.
Some tricks are beautiful on their own. Sometimes it’s the style that does it. Then there are the beautiful minds. And if you’re lucky, you get two or all three of those things.
Torey Pudwill’s back lip up, around, and down the ledge was one of these for me. Where did that idea come from and how the hell did he actually do it?!
The effort to create enduring beauty is not dependent on style but truth. Beauty is what lends things their immortality.
Do/Design: Why beauty is the key to everything.
These objects outlive their creators. They are a gift their creators give to the world. Beauty is resilient, it is life-affirming, it gives back to create more life.
We were all born inherently creative. We all have the capacity to bring beautiful things into this world and should be unapologetic about wanting to create them, whatever they are.
When you create like that, it tends to stick around. That is the stuff of legend.
