MODA skateboard exhibit aims to shred some misconceptions

Vaught, who was 12 when he started grinding and still skateboards at 39, stood in the museum this week, surrounded by more than 225 decks that he's spent the last year and a half assembling from lenders across the country. They range from early ones that sport simple wood-burned typography to contemporary ones saturated in comic book color.

In MODA's front gallery, 74 boards in two rows line three image-drenched walls. The early decks are relatively mundane, with graphics limited to the center by the rudimentary screen printing technology of the time. Then the ones from the late '90s and on show how the visuals popped with the advent of heat-transfer technology that allowed pre-screened film to be molded to the board's curving contours.

Onto that wider canvas, artists and designers created eye-popping graphics that clearly conveyed skateboarding's growing outlaw aesthetic. The designers were stunning omnivores, devouring and transforming images from many corners of pop culture -- comic books, tattoos, graffiti, advertising, rock ‘n' roll posters and videos.

Inevitably, skateboard culture became so influential, designers for everything from film to fashion began sampling from it.

One skateboard designer who has exerted that kind of broader influence is Jim Phillips, who brought a punchy graphic style to Santa Cruz Skateboards, with images of monsters emerging from bull's-eyes and freakish yelling mouths taking the place of palms on huge, outstretched hands.

"Moms today are out buying little ‘Screaming Hand' sweatshirts for the toddlers!" he boasts in a Q&A blown up in the rear gallery, which focuses on eight designers who have found new homes for their skateboard-sparked work in fine art emporiums, television and department stores.

This is a key point that Vaught wanted to make with "Skate It or Hang It!?" -- that skateboarding, despite some negative connotations, has carved an important place in American culture.

In his varied work with Sky Design, he said he's heard Atlanta clients fret at any graphic flourish that might invite "skater punks" who would then "ruin our property."

"So many of these guys have gone on to become influential people and I wanted that story to be told," said Vaught, who acknowledged he doesn't look much like a skateboarder when he's decked out for business meetings in a suit and tie. "Not every skater punk turns out to be a punk."

Exhibit preview

"Skate It or Hang It!? The Evolution of Skateboard Art"

Opening Saturday 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays. Through Sept. 16. $10; $8, seniors and military; $5, students and ages 6 and older. 1315 Peachtree St., Atlanta. 404-979-6455, www.museumofdesign.org.

Kickoff events Saturday: Skateboard parade (open to anyone with a deck) down Peachtree Street, from Ponce de Leon Avenue (line up at 10:30 a.m.) to MODA. At MODA, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., an outdoor skate show by 5BORO NYC skate team. From 1 to 5 p.m. inside MODA, skateboard artists and curator W. Todd Vaught answer questions and sign decks (regular admission applies). After-party at the W Atlanta-Midtown: 6-9 p.m., 5BORO NYC freestyles in hotel's front driveway; 9 p.m.-3 a.m. in Whiskey Park, skate party with dance music from DJ Kidd Koby Roc, skateboard art exhibit, projected skateboarding documentaries.