XO FLOWERS SUMMER 25

324 page (350gsm) Soft Cover and full color (157gsm) Book Paper guts.

The second installment of XO Flowers dives into the art side while servicing the Gnar.

Salman Agah writes:

Skateboarding and art—two strays born from the same litter. From the first time some kid scratched a graphic into a plank of wood and sent it rolling down the street, this thing was never just about movement. It was about expression. Not with words, but with style. With scars. With an uncompromising point of view.

Skateboarding has never been just about tricks, the same way painting was never just about colors. It’s about manifesting something out of nothing, transcending the obvious, making a mark and daring the world to scrub it off. Art gave skateboarding a language. Gave it teeth. Those Powell-Peralta graphics in the ’80s weren’t just pictures; they were badges for those of us who didn’t fit in. The ones who knew the sound of urethane grinding against concrete better than their own mother’s voice.

The DIY zines in the ’80s? Those were manifestos, Xeroxed and stapled together with the kind of urgency you can’t fake. And today? It’s the hand-drawn boards, the grainy fisheye footage, the videos shot on busted cameras—every frame, every sketch, every scrape adding to the DIY ethos and mythology.

Skateboarding doesn’t need a museum. It is the museum. The streets, the pools, the backyards, the spots, every individual—each one a canvas, every session a personal expression, and sometimes an exhibition. But don’t get it twisted—this isn’t a one-way street.

Skateboarding has infused art just as much as art has inspired skateboarding. You think an artist sees a city the way a skateboarder does? No chance. A skateboarder doesn’t just see stairs; they see launch pads, a place where time stands still. Skateboarders don’t just see a ledge; they see a goddamn invitation.

This is a world where concrete turns to clay, where walls become stages, where every curb and every obstacle is a brushstroke waiting to happen. And it’s not just about aesthetics. It’s about the philosophy. The nonconformity. The risk.

There’s no rulebook for painting, same way there’s no rulebook for skateboarding. Just trial, error, and the willingness to eat shit until you figure it out. Every brushstroke, every busted frame of film, every slam, every make—it’s all the same language. Creation through destruction. Order out of chaos.

This book? It’s not a history lesson. It’s a love letter. To the ones who pick up a skateboard, a camera, a pen, a chisel, a brush, a can of spray paint—and just go. The ones who see something beyond, who transcend & break their own rules. The ones who know that skateboarding isn’t just about tricks, and art isn’t just about images. It’s about the stories. The battles. The feeling of being alive!

Get In Where You Fit In!

Cover: Anthony Van Engelen
Art: Mike Ballard

TOC

22 – JKWON: IN THE STEVIE WILLIAMS ERA
70 – MIS-TAKES: A STUDY IN FILM AND IMPERFECTION
102 – IN CONVERSATION WITH DAN CORRIGAN: MATTHEW WILCOX
140 – AMERICAN SKATE PHOTOGRAPHER: THEO HAND
186 – 2001 RUST, ROT AND RUIN: THE JUNKYARD SHOOT
222 – LOVE AND TRESPASSING: AARON HARRISON’S TALE OF THE POND
262 – SHAPE SHIFTING AND OTHER LINT BALLS: THOMAS CAMPBELL