.......................>>19.01.08 - 20.01.08 Frankfurt
       

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FauxAmi Exhibitions:

SKATEBOARDFEVER at the winter Bright 08

Censorship is Weak as Fuck! - Skateboard graphics designed by Marc McKee and
Sean Cliver

Censorship is Weak as Fuck is a collaborative show featuring over 40 skateboard graphics designed by Marc McKee and
Sean Cliver. The show features work the two have done for World Industries and its subsidiary brands from the formation of
the company in the late 1980s to its mid-90s rise to industry dominance. The collection of original skateboards demonstrates,
literally in graphic detail, how World Industries set itself apart from its competitors by using a totally uncensored approach in its
graphic program, relentlessly featuring one controversial subject after another, covering issues such as religion, pornography,
gun control, sex, profanity, racism, drug use and violation of copyright law, all on the bottoms of its skateboards.

Most of the work in the exhibition, which includes the original skateboard decks, original artwork,
and print advertising, has never before been exhibited.

More about the Bright Tradeshow you will find here: www.brighttradeshow.com

More about the Museum: www.SKATEBOARDFIEBER.de - www.MADE-FOR-SKATE.com
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The "Censorship is Weak as Fuck" FLYER - Thx to the sponsors and the Bright!


At first we pic up the holy crates of skateboard collectors at URBAN Supplies. Next to Daniel - Jörg who came up
with the idea to show the exhibition at the Bright. So a big THX to Jörg for making it happen!


Daniel and the Rocco statue
board in his hand. After we checked the contend of the wooden treasure box we
headed to Frankfurt with four boxes full of boards more worth than the car we were driving in!


The Bright is located in an old police office building! With two eagles guarding the place !


The Bright Winter 08 graphics and Holger from PLACE magazine takin' a shot of...



..Marc McKee!

Born 3/19/1969. Spent first 18 years living in San Rafael,California. In 1989, shortly after Steve Rocco started the
skateboard company, World Industries, Marc began working there doing graphics on skateboards, while finishing a B.A.
degree in design at UCLA. In 1992, Rocco created the skateboard magazine, Big Brother, and Marc took on the role
of editor. In the following year, after the release of just 3 issues, Rocco’s partner in the publication, Mike Ternasky, sought a
way out of his investment in the magazine, citing differences with its editorial direction which had little serious emphasis
on skateboarding compounded by an ever increasing focus on complete and utter nonsense, and Marc bought out his
shares. Later these exploits and stunts would be documented in several Big Brother skateboarding videos, the fi rst of which,
Shit, Marc worked on as editor. Excerpts from subsequent Big Brother videos would form the basis of the pilot of the
MTV series, Jackass. In 1994, Ken Block and Damon Way handed over ownership of Blunt Snowboard Magazine to the
publishers of Big Brother. Marc took on the role of editor there as well. In 1997 both Big Brother and Blunt magazine were
sold to Larry Flynt publications and Marc left the magazines to go back to graphic work full time. In 1999 Marc launched the
website, www.skateboardgraphics.com, with the intent of “cataloging every skateboard graphic ever made,” a well-intentioned
exercise in futility. Other projects over the years have included logo design for the Fox TV series, The PJs (1998), and art
direction of the skateboard videos Almost Round Three (2004), and Blind’s What If(2005), and this past year for the
documentary feature, The Man Who Souled The World (2007). Currently, he lives in Venice, CA and continues making
skateboard graphics for World Industries and Blind


Welcome to the online "Censorship is Weak as Fuck" exhibition!


A quick overview of the exhibition from the stairway next to the entrance


Set up the exhibtion! Step 1 choose the boards wisely...


...and get the story right! What story? Lets meet Mr. Rocco!

The show is running in conjunction with the movie documentary, The Man Who Souled The World, which
documents how Steve Rocco started World Industries as one of the first truly “skater-owned”
skateboard companies, as a direct challenge to the current corporate status quo within the industry.

Although Steve spent time with Powell Peralta, he is best known in the mid 80s for being sponsored by
SIMS / Vision. In 1987 Steve was kicked off the Vision team and after meeting with Skip Engblom and
Natas Kaupas, a decision was made to start up a company. Steve bought 6000$ of boards, borrowed 20,000$
from a bookie andcreated a new skate company called World Industries. Steve broke just about every rule in the
book developing this company.

He paid skaters double the royalty rate. Steve changed graphics from skulls and gore graphics. He took out
advertising that was highly inflammatory against other skate companies and mesmerized the industry as a whole with
brilliant, off-the-wall ideas.Through its uncensored approach, World Industries and its slew of spinoffs brands including Blind,
Plan B, Bitch and Big Brother Magazine won more than their fair share of detractors at the same
time endearing itself to the next generation of skateboarders. “We were just pushing the boundaries of things
that hadn’t been done before,” defends Rocco. “And why not? I actually felt like we almost had an obligation to do it.”


Stop us before it´s too late! Rocco started with 6000 bucks - after the boards were sold very well he
decided to make t-Shirts from the benefit but...


no shop wanted his, let's say "special" t-shirts. So he was broke again.


He got Lucero as his new partner, but not for long so he asked Rodney if he wants to jump in an buy out
Lucero's part.Here you can see the Rocco III next to the last Rodney Mullen Freestyle Model - the 8Ply.
So two smart f-stylers with strong 8plys...


so Rodney gave Rocco the money and the two became partners - was he sorry for Powell-Peralta for leaving?


Freestylers - with the words of a well known skateboard magazine...not nice!


Here are two nice guys - on the left Mike Hill - director of the Steve Rocco documentary, and the pirate on the
right is Bärty - Captain of the GLOBE Team and sponsor of the exhibtion! Thx!


and Rodney came not alone - he brought the hottest young street skater of the time with him and shaped a
very special and futuristc board for him - and the Vallely Barnyard was Marc McKee's first board graphic!



Mike V - WI ad


lets check out the second wall...


and lets start with the WI scandals...


we are sorry - no kids under 18! The exhibtion contains a lot of nudity...


The board in a bag? with a sticker on top speaking for itself :




We gave you the option: half naked or fully exposed. Shocking the mothers of young skateboardes...

World Industries / Randy Colvin / Censorship / 1991

This board was a protest against censorship, cleverly conveyed in an image that was guaranteed to
appeal to young skaters.


mhhh were is he looking at...
?


All right! The nudity again!


WI answer to the Santa Cruz "everslick" boards - the Randy Colvin "NEVERslick" Velvet


This board had real velvet flocking applied to it like the kind of black light posters it was parodying.
The deck printers silk-screened glue on each of the boards and after that sprinkled the flocking stuff on by hand.



Question from Sebi - Hobnox.tv "...how can it be soo soft..?"


..and the answer from Marc Mckee!


Topic - Ron Chatman's board graphic!



Blind / Jason Lee / American Icons / 1990

A few art books floated around the World Industries art department early on and had a lasting influence
the graphics and ads. On its first print run this graphic had a colorful Warhol-inspired stained glass pattern
in the background with the American flag printed much smaller on the tail. Jason suggested dropping the
background pattern and replacing it with the flag, which made the message of the board come across a lot
better.


Powell vs. Blind... a war has been declared !


Powell needed some help and had some BAD PERSON ads...


Some people don´t like us... So Mark from Blind wrote George a letter...


The legendary Ripper is trapped...


Marc and Cans next to Skull and Banana...



And here we have a nother well known US boy! David Rogerson aka Shitbird. He is the director of the
Jason Jessee documentary "Pary fro me"


Stefan Marx is showing Marc some art of his ...


...and in return he got two nice original McKees!


A big foam sign for a new (skate) world order!



Lets walk some steps up to the next wall - KILL THEM...


...more scandals on a wall!


Blind / Jason Lee / Burger King board / 1990

The Lee Burger board shows a photo of a Burger King whopper that was shot directly off of a poster stolen
by the Gonz himself from a Burger King restaurant. Jason’s name was written in what was then the
Burger King “Bun Halves” company logo, for which we received another cease and desist order...


Mr. Lee will skate for food!


Mr. Lorenzo will shoot for food!


Mr. Schaller will build ramps for food!


So what concerns Jesus?


that´s a hard one...


101 / Gabriel Rodriguez / Jesus board / 1991

Released in tandem with the Natas Devil worship board this board raised the question of whether it was better to ride
a board with Satan on it, or a board with Jesus on the bottom if the end result was the destruction of the image.


"The devil Worship was originally a Jason Lee pro model for Blind.

I recall Jason listening to a lot of Bauhaus
at the time and wanting to come out with a board featuring a darker theme than a lot of the cartoon fare he had
on some of his more recent graphics, like the Grinch and the Cat in the Hat– both unauthorized copyright
infringements that got us a cease-and-desist letter from Dr. Seuss.

The deck sold decently and an ad we ran in Thrasher garnered many complaints, even though Natas' own writing
it said, "But seriously folks, these are all jokes", which goes to show how stupid people are and that they can't
read. Somewhere around this time Natas broke his ankle while skating, and rumor emerged he was riding the
Devil Worship board and it somehow cursed him." – Marc McKee


“Mostly I recall the graphic being a jab at all the skulls from Zorlac and Powell."

"McKee was annoyed that they weren't actually scary or hardcore and said he could do something way better.
So I told him to do it. My job was then to find a rider who would want to use it. Natas was the most natural pick,
but it was almost overkill with all the hype about his name." Steve Rocco



World Industries - Randy Colvin - Colvinetics board - 1992

Another example of blatant copyright infringement. The Colvinetics pro model for World pro Randy Colvin was a direct,
airbrushed copy of the book cover “Dianetics”, by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology.
WI soon received a Cease and Desist letter after a member of the church saw the board hanging in a shop window
on Hollywood Blvd. near Scientology headquarters. In the original sketch it was jasonetics for jason lee, basically
a joke on the whole hollywood / scientology connection. needless to say, he was not into it, so we gave it to randy.


World Industries / Jeremy Klein / Blackeyed kid / 1991

This graphic is not a rip-off of a Norman rockwell painting. it is actually a rip-off of a black and white photo from a
school textbookfrom the 50’s called “thresholds to adult living”, containing for example chapters which include:
dress digest, gains and goals, marriage miracles and proper childhood behavior.


Blind - Jason Lee - Claudia Schiffer - 1991

The prime example of how World undermined its competition, in this case the Powell corp.
This board was one of 5 identical boards, one for each Blind team rider, that was released as the first graphic by Sean Cliver
when he came to work for World Industries after being fired during a mass layoff at Powell. The graphic is based on the
same subject matter that he’d been working on just before leaving Powell, only redrawn for Blind and released far
in advance of the Powell version.


To make no mistake of the motivation behind this coup, the top graphic of all five boards had the George Powell quote
“Friends are friends, but business is business, and war has been declared”, A statement George had made to
Rodney Mullen when Rodney left Powell to help Rocco start World Industries in 1989, and printed as a dedication to all
the Powell employees who lost their jobs “in the war”. The graphic was redrawn in one night’s session and in just over a
week’s time the blind schiffer decks were in stock and ready to be shipped. “this was my first true taste of rocco’s
wicked business ethics, and i loved it. not only that, but vengeance was mine and far more quickly than
I could have ever imagined”, says Sean Cliver



This guy is deeply reading the cease- and-decist letter from Scientology to WI.


Our all time favorites: The Warner Brothers rip offs from 1992:

Warner Bros. ripoff boards (6 boards)

At the time of its release the idea of stolen copyright characters was still a novel concept and pretty much mirrored perfectly
the delinquent attitude of street skating, which by defi nition involves trespassing and destruction of property. The Warner Bros
graphic series was also a harbinger of what in just a few years brought the golden era of World graphics to an end, when all
of its various brands homogenized creatively into a blur of quickly done “stolen” graphics with shorter and shorter shelfl ives.
Early on World had pioneered the quick turnover of graphics to leap-frog ahead of its competitors, whose creative depts.
were often bogged down by lengthy committee design meetings and slow to market introduction of new product. The quick
graphic turnaround was a strategy that worked in the beginning, but later lost its effectiveness as other small companies arose
that could adopt the same tactics. At the same time, with the introduction of all the new variety and competition, World was no
longer able to coerce shops into buying into its product line with threats of being black-balled, and as a result the subversive
element vanished from its product line to a large degree.


Thumbs up for bringing the fun back into skateboarding.



The unofficial mobile phone camera crew..Quality doesn't matter...


The official media - checking the white balance to get ready for an interview
with Mike Hill


checking the audio...



David giving an interview...


The power of choice: controversial racist and serial killer humor. Be offended or smile..


a knife is not a toy...


Rocco Tribute Series (4 boards) 1992
A four-part series jokingly depicting Rocco at the height of his power in the skateboard industry.


hail to Steve Rocco...

World Industries / Shiloh Greathouse / Rocco 1984 board 1992
The source artwork from the Rocco documentary, showing Steve on a huge screen as
Big Brother from the book 1984, by George Orwell.

World industries / Daewon Song / Rocco Harem 1992
Rocco reclineson a chaise lounge surrounded by a harem of girls. He holds in one hand his ever-present Motorola fl ip-
phone which was quite the luxury item and status symbol at the time.

World Industries / Jovontae Turner / Rocco Statue / 1992
One of the four boards in the “Rocco Tribute” series jokingly portraying Rocco as savior of the skateboard industry. In this
graphic, Rocco is shown as conquering war hero of the Russian communist era, holding a young child representing the
future, and wielding a long sword. He stands atop atop a pile of rubble made up of a broken and crumbling Powell logo
which he pierces with his sword. In the original Russian social realist statue that this graphic is based on the heroic fi gure is
standing on top of a broken swastika.

World Industries / Chico Brenes / Rocco Pope / 1992
Rocco as the Pope.


White Power and other funny advertisements catch the attention.
The kid is probably more into the nice colors.


Big Brother was a skateboarding magazine founded by Steve Rocco,

which was notable for ushering in street skating and promoting Rocco brands and companies Rocco favored.
No subject was taboo. Early articles featured step by step ways to commit suicide and rip off schemes such as
how to make a fake ID.

They would often use odd gimmicks like printing the magazine in different sizes, packaging it in a cereal box,
and throwing in items like trading cards and a cassette tape. Early writers were Sean Cliver,
Earl Parker (Thomas Schmidt) Jeff Tremaine, Marc Mckee, Mike Ballard, Pat Canale, and others.


It contained mostly articles about skateboarding, as well as nudity, stunts, and random ramblings from its staff.
Its later days were characterized by the clever wordplay of editors Dave Carnie and Chris Nieratko.
The magazine was purchased by Larry Flynt in 1997. After Flynt began publishing the magazine,
ironically the nudity was toned down or scrapped altogether, though the vulgarity remained.


oh, and Steve has a brother...and he was not a friend of girl skateboards...


Some bitches on shirts and stickers...


Blind / Jordan Richter / Safety Gear board 1993

This graphic is copied directly from a safe sex pamphlet that showed how to use a condom. It deals with the uncomfortable
subject of how sex education and condom use is repressed in the U.S. It’s also an example of how World Industries would
often take an adversarial stance with skateboard shops and dealers, forcing them to carry products that were controversial.
We went so far in our catalog as to list the names of shops that refused to carry the Safety Gear board under the heading
“Shops o’ Death,” accusing them of wanting kids to get AIDS.


Now this graphic is (a) truly evil (spoof).


101 / Kris Markovich / Pushead/Metallica Spoof /
1992

A rotting skull with a cute pom-pom knit beanie impaled by a toothbrush paying homage and also making fun of how Pushed’s
intricate skull illustrations on Zorlac boards and Metallica t-shirts were so dark and evil that they occasionally bordered on the
ridiculous.


..and another internatioanl guest! Sebastian talking to Daniel
.


Fucked Up Blind kids series boards

This graphic series for Blind Skateboards took its cue from the Garbage Pail kids trading card series of the 80s and
featured a collectable set of stickers with each board. The subject matter of each of the boards in the series was more
“fucked-up” than the next, featuring glue-sniffi ng, sodomy, pornography and masturbation. A fi fth fucked-up kid graphic
was on the drawing board for Jason Lee before he left Blind to start his own skateboard company and may have been
part of the reason for him leaving. The graphic was to be called “Basin’ Jason,” showing him smoking cocaine.



Fucked up kids in the back - but why all the attention from the girls.....?


...ahhh, some fucked up watch-promotion-"breakers" at the exhibition place!


so lets check out the last wall...
lots of naked images. Which baby are you..?

World Industries / Chico Brenes / Nude Beach / 1993

The fundamental absurdity and irony of pretty much of basically everything in life was kind of a guiding theme in a lot of world
graphics and ads, and it defi nitely carried over into the magazine we later published, Big Brother, which ultimately spawned
the TV show Jackass which provided an international spotlight on idiots, many of which walked the graffi ti scarred halls of the
world offi ce in the mid 90s. If any meaning were to be attributed to this board, which depicts a group of clothes-free seniors
playing volleyball, it would be the idea that people that are of an exhibitionist nature, like those that frequent nudist colonies
and nude beaches, do not look good naked.


101 / Adam McNatt / Bad Babies / 1994

I’m not sure what Sean had in mind with this graphic with its depiction of a row of newborn babies wielding, guns, knives,
crackpipes, etc. but I see it as highlighting the contrast of how everyone begins life basically as a completely innocent with
absolutely no indication of how fucked they can later become.


and of course you could watch the Rocco documentary at the exhibition!

THE MAN WHO SOULED THE WORLD tells the story of Steve Rocco, the irreverent genius
who transformed the skateboard industry from corporate to skater owned with a do-
it-yourself punk attitude. Steve’s antics and entrepreneurial impact on the skateboard
business are huge and have ultimately had a signifi cant impact on broader mainstream
culture as Steve is the man who gave Spike Jonze his fi rst directing gig, discovered Jason
Lee and created Big Brother magazine which became the genesis of Jackass.
Basing himself in Hermosa Beach, Torrance and El Segundo, Steve shaped skateboarding
counter-culture by creating World Industries, the most infl uential and controversial
company in an industry of extremes. His story embodies the American Dream at its most
volatile in a balls-to-the-wall picture that provides a manic insight into the realities of
enterprise and celebrity in the contemporary youth market.
Steve gave skateboarders and their unique creativity a voice, and that voice now
permeates as one of the chief infl uencers of broader youth culture. From fi lm, to art,
graphic design, fashion, music and of course skateboarding, a lasting legacy remains and
THE MAN WHO SOULED THE WORLD covers all this and more in an edgy and uniquely
creative manner.


go get the DVD! It´s a must see!!


Marc signing Sean Cliver's Disposable book.. Too bad he couldn't be there.


The signature was for a guy from Greece - there you can´t get the book. so he was lucky three times:

1. he got the book! well two of it...
2. he got signed it from Marc!
3. he and his friend got a picture together with Marc!



Thumbs up from FauxAmi Exhibition / SKATEBOARDFEVER
for all who made it possible for us to show the exhibition at the Bright!

THX to:
Jörg from Urban

Bärty from GLOBE
Mike Hill
Thomas and Marco
/ Bright
Oliver Wesp
Pit Feil

Stefan Marx
Sven and our helpers from the Skateboard Museum Stuttgart e.V.

and of course -
Sean Cliver
and Marc McKee!

Any questions or suggestions ? - Drop us a mail: Skate@FauxAmi.de

More about Skateboardfieber and the Skateboardmuseum:

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After the Bright we took Marc back to Stuttgart to show him the Skateboard Museum...


Big pants and very small whells!


Daniel shows Marc the Claus Grabke - Jim Phillips board Graphic - he seems to like it!


Marc dropping the Mini-Bowl at the Skateboard Museum
- so come back any time for another drop and run in the Bowl!

 

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