Can Skateboarding Change the Art World?
Ask Bobby Beals.
The natural connection between art and skateboarding might seem unusual to some, but Bobby Beals proves it’s a powerful way to build community and express creativity. Bobby, who is a gallery owner, painter, skateboarder, and sixth-generation Santa Fean, exemplifies how seemingly different worlds can seamlessly flow together to create and connect.
For nearly two decades, Bobby owned a gallery on Canyon Road, where, despite commercial success, he never felt entirely at home among his gallery peers. This outsider view became his strength, inspiring him to rethink what an art space could be. When the pandemic hit shortly after he closed his Canyon Road gallery, fate intervened through an opportunity at Bishop’s Lodge, where Bobby created the Horseshoe Gallery, a space purposefully designed to be more welcoming and community-focused than traditional galleries.
The Flow State
Taking up skateboarding at age 39 (and breaking his ribs on day one!), Bobby found deep similarities between athletic and artistic flow states, and incorporates his love of skateboarding into his art practice.
“If you skate too slow, you’re going to fall,” he says. “When I’m painting, I enter this flow and it’s letting go, but really trying to holistically embody everything I’ve learned.”
This insight led him to start a skateboard company that’s now celebrating its tenth anniversary, creating custom art decks that serve as accessible ways to enter the art world.
Art On Board
The skateboard as canvas is both a distinctive medium and a deliberate plan to make art less intimidating. Bobby notes that many people feel uncomfortable in traditional gallery settings, including some of his friends, who would hesitantly ask if they were welcome at his openings. But there’s something approachable about a skateboard.
“A skateboard is a little bit like an easier way to move into the fine art world,” he says.
This effort to make art available to more people extends to his curatorial practice, where he actively encourages first-time artists to submit designs for skateboard shows.
Bobby’s work builds community across traditional lines. He brings together professional artists, architects, state employees, and teenagers around creative projects. His skateboard company donates proceeds to organizations like the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the youth shelter, putting social good directly into the business model. Shows like Unpolished, where artists purposefully leave works unfinished, challenge the idea of perfection and celebrate the process of creation itself.
Expressing the Multiverse Inside Us
Bobby’s philosophy embraces multidimensionality, the idea that creative people shouldn’t be limited to single modes of expression. He represents artists who are also musicians, BMX riders, yoga teachers, and healers.
“We’re multidimensional people,” he says, describing how different aspects of one’s life naturally inform artistic output. This perspective offers a refreshing choice to the art market’s pressure to specialize, encouraging artists to explore widely while developing their distinctive voices.
For those struggling with their own creative expression, Bobby’s advice is simple: just do it, and then do it again.
“I would just encourage artists to keep going,” he says, “and not be so judgmental on themselves.”
He emphasizes that discipline—showing up daily to your practice—ultimately yields results, even when the process feels messy. This resilience, learned partly through the cycle of falling and getting back up, an inevitable aspect of skateboarding, provides a powerful path to creativity and a deeper understanding of life itself.
Listen to ArtStorming the City Different with Bobby Beals here. Learn more at bealsandco.com.
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