Alex Jones - #
Skateboarder with a juggler's ethos.
After Luke Burrage's recent video on "The Definiton of Juggling" I was reminded of the perennial question among some jugglers of whether or not you can consider the skateboarder Rodney Mullen as one of the greatest 'jugglers' of all time. Under Luke's definition he could be considered a great 'object manipulator' but not a 'juggler'.
Be that as it may, I came across another skateboarder recently who, though he may not be a 'juggler' per se, shares the exact same ethos of many jugglers. Anyone who feels an unstoppable urge to do tricks with any object they happen to pick up (toothbrush, bottle, hat, book, etc.etc.) will know this feeling. I think some of you on here might like his style.
His name is Abraham Dubin, and his YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/user/sandsofmine
A good video to start with to get the idea of his schtick is his recent LooPHoLES video: https://youtu.be/XW1fBBeLZg4
In this video (and many others) he customises his skateboards in a really homespun way (sawing, hinging, combining, tying together, fixing on wierd extra bits) often just to perform one sketchy trick on one dodgy bit of broken pavement or curb that he has found. Maybe you could think of him as the Jay Gilligan or Ameron Rosvall of skateboarding - creating weird props, doing odd new tricks.
Without wanting to get too pretentious about it, I think what elevates his videos to the level of art is the appreciation for the potential of 'edgeland' landscapes and the creativity that they can inspire, despite the fact that on the face of it they look 'ugly' or 'boring'. He also has a great eye for the nature that is present in these bog-standard sub-urban landscapes.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy his videos as much as I have, and I hope they inspire you to push your juggling in weird directions and to see your local environment with new eyes.
I've considered skaters as object manipulators for a long time (just rewatched the video in that thread, I still find it extraordinary). I watched the LooPHoLES video, most of it was not really my thing but I thought the stuff with the hinged board was a lot of fun.
Alex Jones - - Parent #
I realised after posting that I actually meant to give this video as the best example of his style: https://youtu.be/EDyv26kkcTw It is a bit longer and more varied and has more interesting ideas in my opinion. And plenty more hinges :P
I appreciate that some of the stuff is a bit weird, and on a purely technical level the skating is pretty basic, but I do like the general experimental outlook. I think if he was more technically skilled he could be considered the Wes Peden of skating!
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