I reviewed Concrete To Canvas a while back and thought it was a great collection of art. I was pleased to see that Jo Waterhouse has followed up the original book with a much appreciated sequel, Concrete 2 Canvas: More Skateboarders’ Art. The new book, published by Laurence King, is pleasingly in exactly the same physical format as the original and also completely about artists that have a skating connection…in case you hadn’t already guessed.

Like the original, it plays out very much like a collection of individual portfolios but what sets it aside is the quality of the artists. The artists included in the sequel are a really strong selection. There are some real heavy-weights that have got involved this time like Mike Giant (whose work I’m a little obsessed by at the moment), Jeremy Fish and Flying Fortress. There are some less obvious artists included too. Equally heavy (in metaphorical weight that is!) is Joe Sorren. He’s another fantastic artist that I’m obsessed by but I hadn’t made the skate connection will now. Having artists like this included in such a book is great and I thoroughly enjoyed each of their sections. However, this kind of book is always about discovery for me and I wasn’t disappointed at all.

Sometimes the connections between skating and art aren’t apparent but with David Hale’s work it’s very obvious. He’s one of only a few artists in the book that are featured with painted decks. The 5 bound boards above really do it for me and have led to a true fascination with Hale’s work. He does paint boards in a more orthodox fashion but the works where he connects them together to make larger canvases are real winners. None of it’s done in a gimmicky way though; you almost don’t notice at first because the paintings are so sublime. There are of course many other great artists that I’ve now been introduced to including Chris Dyer, Mr Gauky, Fernando Evira and many more.

Perhaps one of my favourite sections in this book is from and old favourite of mine. I know I’ve already said that it’s all about the discovery but seeing Eric Pentle (aka Product.Two, aka P_2 aka whatever) really made my day. I’ve been a long time admirer of his work and his style has evolved perfectly. He really deserves to share the pages with so many other greats.

One other thing I’ve noticed this time around is that there seems to be quite a lot of anatomical references in this book. There are of course the obligatory skulls (again, I ain’t complaining) but there are also some jaw bones, rotting entrails (on more than one occasion by more than one artist!) and an amputated arm and partially amputated finger! Maybe it’s just the physical side of the sport being mirrored; maybe it’s just me noticing a connection that’s not really there…I suspect it’s just the latter!

The cultural connection between skatebaording and art will no doubt continue (seeing as it’s so deeply rooted) and I see no reason why I won’t be admiring and reviewing Concret To Canvas 3 sometime in the near future. The full artist rundown is – Steven Ashton, Lee Basford, Thomas Cambell, East Eric, Ekta, Fernando Elvira, Martin Fischer, Jeremy Fish, Flying Fortress, French, Mr Gauky, Mike Giant, Kev Grey, Stef Grindly, David Hale, Jim Houser, Tom Lessner, Majls, Fin Neary, Momad, The Phono Art Ensemble, Yogi Proctor, Product.Two/ Eric Pentle, Toby Shaull, Joe Sorren and Andrew Jeffrey Wright. Whew! Now look at the list and check the silly price. I think you’ll agree that it’s a give away! Concrete 2 Canvas: More Skateboarders’ Art weighs in at 128 pages and is a soft-back edition. You can get a copy direct from Laurence King or form al the usual places including AmazonUK.