I have always taken a great deal of inspiration from the alternative sports market that includes skateboarding and snowboarding. Here, everyone actively participates in a chaotic dance of co-creation between manufacturers, consumers, pro-athletes and retailers.
I’ve also been fascinated how the skate and street cultures have merged to become a powerful creative force that influences all of us, whether we are conscious of it or not.
Yesterday, my fellow Radarite, Berto, pointed me to a documentary film that was made in conjunction with a traveling art exhibit and shares its name, Beautiful Losers. The Curators of the show describe it this way:
In the 1990’s, a loose-knit group of American artists, many just out of their teens, began creating art that reflected their lifestyles.
Influenced by popular underground youth subcultures of the day – skateboarding, graffiti, street fashion and independent music – they began to make work in a variety of media that over time has come to define a unique aesthetic.
The unifying traits among these artists are a studied vocabulary of pop culture iconography, a sense of the absurd, and a strong D.Y.I. (Do It Yourself) ethic.
From early on, almost all were working in styles that were contrary to academic trends. Because of this, it was necessary to develop alternative avenues of communication and distribution for their work.
Networks of art galleries, publications, and clothing and record labels dedicated to this art came into being and over the years have developed a solid following.
Mainstream art establishments have now begun to embrace this new work, but its influence is most keenly felt in the worlds of fashion, music, literature, film and, due to the popularity of skateboarding, athletics.
Beautiful Losers recognizes a vital and independent creative spirit. It is the first museum survey to spotlight this network of artists who began by launching a simultaneous celebration and critique of contemporary art and popular culture from outside institutional walls.
First, let me say that I'm not the most tech savvy person in the world. I often have to get help to drill concepts into my thick skull. So, when trying to figure out how to consolidate the two different URLs of my blog for 
