Bernie Tostenson Follow-up: Brand X Team Deck Variant

As a follow-up to our last post on the skateboard art of Bernie Tostenson, I wanted to share a little variant on the superb Triple X team deck. Essentially it's the same graphic, but in a different colourway and with the Brand X labelling -- instead of "Triple X."

I cannot overstate how superb I find this particular bit of skate art; from the art and design itself to the quality of the screening. It has come as no surprise to me that both of these Tostenson collectors are artists themselves who appreciate what Bernie has done, both from a design perspective and also from a technical screening perspective. It is sheer brilliance.

Aside from the number of colours and the Robert Crumb like look of the graphics, I particularly relish how Bernie has even put art where it was destined to be covered by the trucks. What's more he has arranged the art in a precise relation to the footprint of the trucks such that the board art and the trucks would merge into an integrated design whole.

Look, for example, how the design of the mouth here would partially disappear under the footprint of the truck, but what would remain visible would integrate with the base of the truck as though the mouth was consuming the truck:

You can see the same sort of thing below as well:

This is great stuff. Very often the trucks just cover some part of the overall deck art, thereby obscuring the design. Tostenson has taken steps to ensure his design here would integrate well with the setup skateboard. What's more you'd have a bit of fun rediscovering the art that was covered by the trucks should you ever remove them. I am put to mind of the broader artistic tradition whereby artists conceal little hidden gems within the details of the art. Great stuff.