NASTY NECKFACE

It’s not hard to remember the first time I saw Neckface’s artwork. I was in the seventh grade, and I had been skating for about a year. I was in the local shop that opened in my town, Made in New York. The basement emitted the scent of weed throughout the store, the owner was clearly the culprit, and Lakai’s “Fully Flared” was on the big television. On the same wall as the t.v. were the skateboards, and there was a new line of Baker boards on the wall.

The boards were nothing like what I’ve seen before. The graphics were gruesome. They were filled with dead babies, beheadings, demons playing basketball, and blood. Side by side the board’s graphics showed a larger piece of art than just one single board could. I had never seen such graphic content on a skateboard, and it made me laugh. I bought the Erik Ellington pro model on the spot. I gripped in myself at the shop, set up my trucks, and ollied some four stairs with my friends.

All the older skaters in my town always had paint markers in their pockets and backpacks and were constantly tagging the walls at every skate spot we went to. Of course, my friends and I followed suit. They always talked about how sick Neckface was. So, after I bought the board I went home and googled him. The first thing to come up was the famous, “Neckface Begins” billboard, off the Williamsburg Bridge in 2005. Still, to this day, that is my favorite piece of artwork I have ever seen.

Since then I have followed his work and I get more and more hyped every time I see him or his work in a skate video, in thrasher, or on Instagram. I recently had the golden opportunity to interview him and find out what inspires him and how he go to where he is today.

Neckface grew up in Stockton, California in the 80s and 90s. He began doing graffiti at the same age I first saw his work. He said, “I’ve been drawing on shit since I could remember, graffiti I started at like 13.”And when I asked how long he’ll be creating art, his answer was simple; “Forever.” His graphic artwork has been admired for years, and if all goes as planned for him Neckface will be skating and drawing for the rest of his life.

Neckface found a unique way to incorporate skateboarding into his everyday life and future. He said “My older brother skated” and continued, “there’s no real time I started skating, I was just born around it.” Skateboarding culture has had a heavy influence on Neckface’s art, and this is where most of his following comes from.

Neckface has a cultlike following in the skateboarding community and this did not happen by coincidence. “What linked with the industry was when I would go to a spot and write on shit, so every skater saw my work. Then I got the Thrasher cover.” He was given the cover of the July 2005 issue. Since then, the graphic was printed on shirts, stickers, and even phone cases.

The graffiti artist’s work became even more famous in 2007. He said the opportunity came when, “Andrew Reynolds asked me to do a board series that connected, so I could do whatever I want.” When I asked him about what inspired the board series and the rest of his gruesomely appealing work, he said, “Bad graffiti inspires me, like bathroom graffiti, homeless people graffiti, Edward Gorey, Charles Addams” later saying, “Sometimes even just having a shitty day will do the trick.”

Neckface can be seen with one of his drawings over his face in his Epicly Later’d, or skating and partying in a various amount of Baker videos, or even just being the hype man for Nuge’s hill bomb on Thrasher in L.A. He is the definition of a Bakerboy. He said, “The best part about it [being a Bakerboy] is that we are all friends in real life, we actually hang out with each other.” Later he said, “We ain’t no random weird lineup of a team.” Something many people are aware of from watching any Baker video.

Neckface’s attitude is one of a kind and he truly lives every skaters’ and artists’ dream. He said, “I never did expect to make it this big, but I did know that I was gonna skate and draw forever, whatever it takes to do that I’m down.” This attitude is what got him to where he is today.

He finished off our interview by saying “Do whatever the fuck you like, how you like, where you like. That’s what skateboarding is about anyways.”