A man walks by us. I recognize him from one of the portraits. It seems as if he jumped right out of the Plexiglas, as the portraits are perfectly accurate. “Which skateboarder is that?” I whisper to Paul.
“That is Jason Adams.”
I thank Paul for his time and tap Jason on the shoulder. I tell him that I think it would be fun to talk to him in front of his portrait, which I happen to really like. “How does it make you feel to be iconic-ized?” I ask him
“I feel honored,” he says.
“Do you like your portrait?”
“I love it.”
“So, when Paul sells it, are you getting a cut?”
“No, but Paul is giving each of us our portrait.”
I decide that is definitely a fair trade. “So who’s who,” I ask Jason as I nod at the portraits?
“That over there is Stevie Williams, Chad Muska, Marc Johnson, John Cardiel, Mike Carroll…”
“Are you guys all friends?”
“Some of us, yeah. Of course we all “know” each other… Some of us live in the same area.”
“What do you do besides skateboard?”
“Actually, I am also an artist,” he tells me, “I got into skateboarding to escape life, and I got into art to escape skateboarding.”
I understand what he is saying in my own way. There is something about him, he has a likable quality. I can see why out of all the pro-skateboarders in America (and apparently there are a lot of them) that Paul chose Jason to be one out of eleven.
Of course I’m curious to see how well the work will sell, because the work seems to be priceless no matter what price tag you put on it…
