To some, skateboarding is more than just flashy tricks, crazy stunts and baggy pants that hang dangerously low. The art scrawled on the underbelly of the deck is, to many, a way to illustrate the theory of the sport.

Sean Cliver, artist, skater and writer, recently organized the pop-culture influences into the new book "Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art."

"I'd always been into art, mostly drawing birds and animals, but then I started doing 'Star Wars' and goofy 'Dungeons and Dragons' crap in the latter stages of elementary school," Cliver said.

"I got heavily into comic books and thought that was the general direction I was headed professionally. But then I stumbled on skateboarding in 1986 * and was instantly thrown into a whole new realm of artistic influence and inspiration."

Fifteen years later, Cliver began the task of piecing his and other artists' histories together to create "Disposable," a book "created, designed and produced by skateboarders, for skateboarders."

The 228-page volume includes full-color photos of decks complete with histories and anecdotes from the artists that designed them, including Steve Caballero *, Marc McKee and Ed Templeton *, and the skaters that used-slash-ruined them, including Lance Mountain *, Jason Lee * and Tony Hawk *.

Originally, Cliver got the idea for "Disposable" when he decided he wanted to serialize his own history in skate graphics.

"I just had too many stories from throughout the years, and I wanted to do something fun with them before they disappeared from my memory banks altogether," Cliver said.

However, after examining a few books on the subject matter, Cliver decided to expand and include other prominent deck-artists as well.

He said he felt that many pioneers in skate graphics had been "consistently glossed over and supplanted by the latest 'glitterati' hipsters on the art scene" and were written out of history books altogether.

"Most books that have been published to date have attacked the subject matter from the fronts of hip art theory or pop culture curios, and many of the authors and editors responsible have no sincere ties to skateboarding because the books are riddled with inaccuracies," Cliver said. "Hence, my fervent desire to assemble a comprehensive and credible book dedicated to the haphazard history of skateboard art from a hardcore skater's point of view."

The title of the book has roots in an interview Cliver did in the mid-1990s, when he noted that skateboard art is, in a sense, disposable.

"All this work goes into crafting the artwork and reproducing it on boards, but then it's ultimately destroyed through skating in a fairly short matter of time," Cliver said. "So, the art has a terminal shelf-life from the get-go, a kamikaze-like existence, I guess you could say."

Skaters in the area gave their thoughts on skate art as well.

"I always chose my boards based on the artwork," said Eric Lukavsky, 23, a Penn State biology major. "You can change everything else on a board, the trucks *, the bearings *, the wheels *, you can change everything but the picture, and that's what made it your board. If I could afford it, I would buy decks and hang them on my wall."

Cliver was born and raised in Stevens Point, Wisconsin *, and left at age 18 to attend tech school for commercial art in Madison. That changed when he won an "art contest" Powell Peralta * (one of the most popular skate companies at the time) advertised in Thrasher magazine *. He dropped out of college and became a deck artist for Powell.

Over the years, Cliver has designed decks for World Industries *, its subsidiary companies (Blind, 101 and Prime for example) and Birdhouse *, his current employer.

As for writing credits, Cliver wrote for the skateboard magazine Big Brother *, where he was the editor from 1996 * until 2000 *, and wrote the accompanying book to "Jackass * the Movie."

He also worked as a producer for the TV show/movie and is a producer for "Wildboyz."

"Disposable," which was released earlier this week, will be sold exclusively at skate and specialty shops for the first year, but it will be available at other retailers in 2006.

This article was originally entitled "Book chronicles history of skateboard art" and was found at http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/living/10273620.htm

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