WARNING: The Art of Marc McKee

enjoi’s art director Winston Tseng has a new book series dropping in March called Seen Unknown that begins with WARNING: The Art of Marc McKee. Radcollector contributor Ashton Maxfield scored an early copy and provided us with images and a review. Here’s an excerpt, read the piece in it’s entirety after the jump.

One copy of this 96-page book is an art collection in itself – it features a range of his artwork dating from the late 80s all the way to 2010. Marc McKee has created more than 1,000 board graphics for brands like World Industries, Blind and 101. Chances are that if you’ve been around skateboarding for a minute, you’ve had a Marc McKee graphic under your feet.

I was lucky enough to find an advance copy of Winston Tseng’s upcoming book called WARNING: The Art of Marc McKee in my mailbox the other day. Every time I get something early or exclusive I want to share it with my friends. What fun is it to have something special if you can’t enjoy it with your friends, right? When I came across a bag of M-80s from Old Mexico I hit up my friends to come blow stuff up with me, and on more than one occasion I’ve snuck a group of friends into a movie premiere they weren’t on the guest list for – that’s just what friends do.

Reading a book isn’t nearly as social as lighting Mexican M-80s or sneaking a bunch of people into a movie premiere, so I think the best way to share this early copy would be to tell you about what I consider the best parts and show you pictures of the iconic Marc McKee pieces in the book. One copy of this 96-page book is an art collection in itself – it features a range of his artwork dating from the late 80s all the way to 2010. Marc McKee has created more than 1,000 board graphics for brands like World Industries, Blind and 101. Chances are that if you’ve been around skateboarding for a minute, you’ve had a Marc McKee graphic under your feet. One of my personal favorite Marc Mckee graphics was the Barnyard Mike Vallely pro model that came out when I was in 4th Grade (1989). The Gonz Skull and Banana graphic that was issued a couple years later is another of my favorites.

McKee used a wide variety of visual styles and mediums ranging from classical oil paintings to water colors and air brushed lifelike cartoons. Mckee used each medium to create controversial images with a shock factor! If you’re a skateboarder you’ll remember the Accidental Gun Death Guy Mariano Blind pro model (which is the book’s cover image), and the Colvonetics board. The church Tom Cruise goes to sent Rocco a Cease and Desist letter for that one. In Rodney Mullen’s intro to the book he mentions that Marc McKee’s art was so controversial that they had an entire wall of Cease and Desist orders for his graphics at World.

The Art of Marc McKee is the first book in the Seen Unknown series edited by Winston Tseng, art director for Enjoi Skateboards. Tseng currently lives in NYC. He has worked with some great artists and designers so I’m really looking forward to seeing the next book in the series too.
–Ashton Maxfield

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