Brian Anderson had many good years but we are sure he had a very special 2016. Nike SB knows the man and over the years have collaborated with him on colorways, special editions, and even his own shoe. A lot of people in skating get their chance to work on projects but Mr. Anderson seems to be very hands on, his style and sense of zeitgeist have made the results of those projects classics. Yesterday saw the release of his newest project to date and next week he will exhibiting some of his painting as well. I say all that to say this, Brian Anderson is one our greats and he has been my favorite skater since day one and I was honored to be able to have a little smalltalk with him.

How are you, Brian?

I’m doing very well. I just have been painting and being in New York for the holidays, so yeah, it’s been nice!

Has it been snowy outside as in Berlin?

Yeah, it snowed! I was actually in New Jersey stuck in the house for two days and the snow… it was awesome, it was great! (Laughs)

Yeah, same here! It’s been snowy the whole time and actually even a little snow stormy today, which I really liked to be honest just sitting inside working.

Oh, cool!

I guess, at the moment it’s morning for you right?

Yes, it’s almost noon.

So, you were painting you said?

Yeah, I was working on some paintings for Berlin. We are leaving Saturday and are going for the Bright Tradeshow. I have some big paintings that were too heavy and expensive to be sent, so I actually started to make four new ones. I am working on them for the next few days and bring them on the airplane to see you guys.

Brian gracefully sliding through a backside tailslide.

Yeah man, I definitely will stop by your exhibition. It’s actually not far from where we are. I was wondering though about the painting. You have been painting for quite some time now, right?

Not too much within the past ten years because I kind of said “yes” to every tour and I got a dog… So, I never had time to go to the studio and paint. I was mostly trying to skateboard, was running a skateboard company, doing Nike tours, autograph signings, competitions, and demos. So yeah, I didn’t really paint I just kept a sketchbook. But I’m trying to stay in New York more now, and not leave as much all year long. Here is where I can paint more art and start trying to get art shows with friends and it’s good. It’s really calming and it’s kind of a good energy flow and lets bad energy out. So, I really enjoy it now. I just painted for a week straight all alone. It was great and very therapeutic. 

I kind of know what you are talking about. Before I started working I was in art school for four years, so I can really feel you on the therapeutic calmness of painting.

I don’t know how long ago but I remember watching a day-in-the-life type of thing with you where you showed a couple of your sketches. It was the same one in which you talked about watching skateboard videos in the mirror, which means to watch for example your favorite regular skater riding goofy. That was actually kind of the start for me to draw, too. And that’s kind of funny that we are talking about that now. So, I was wondering how did you end up doing an art show in Berlin?

It was kind of last minute. I mean, I hate to call it an art show because I just bring four things. One or two months ago Kaspar (van Lierop) asked me “Hey do you want to be in this art show with Nick Jensen for the Bright? You know it’s kind of on the smaller side…” And I was like “Yeah, sure that would be great! I will make some paintings!” So, yeah, I know Nick from the time we both used to be on Fourstar together and I really loved to be around him, he is such a great guy. And yeah, it was like “Let’s go to the Bright Tradeshow and hang out” And we also are going to launch the hockey jersey, the spring ’17 line and the capsule that I created. So, I’m pretty sure that we are going to have a small party for that as well. And then we are going to go to Oslo, too. It’s going to be a nice trip. I’m really excited. And I have to add that I’m looking forward to seeing Nick and that I love his art!

I think so, too! I think it’s definitely juxtaposition between your and his work but I’m kind of excited to see it. He is a very much into more abstract things or let’s say he’s combining abstractionism and realism.

Yeah, so mine is a little loud. Not like a crazy loudness in a ‘piss off’ way but I use like crazy wild colors and think that stems from me growing up on some much advertising and Hot Wheels and Coca-Cola and all this television stuff. I love bold strong images. I love labels and so on. So mine is a little bit more bright and his is a little bit more patterns but it’s beautiful like I said you can tell he took some much time to make these paintings and you have to respect that. It’s great!

So you are working from a studio you said?

Ah, it is not really a studio! I was working at a house. My family has a house down in New Jersey.

Ah great! I was wondering about the collection you are launching. It’s a hockey jersey, which is kind of a trademark for you, I guess, and the shoes as well? So, what inspired you? I mean everything seems to be smoothly picked like for example the coloring is nice. It’s very suitable. So, were you very hands on with this project?

Yeah, I was very involved with it! I did the original sketch of the whole jersey itself and it was well received and so we decided “Hey let’s do a whole capsule!” And then I did a sneaker drawing and then, you know, we picked some existing pieces that were already in the SB line, you know, classic hoodie, a coach jacket… And yeah it’s not like I wore a hockey jersey like twice a month or a year around, it’s not necessarily my signature thing. I just thought, you know, often times they don’t fit that well. And so I found an exciting jersey that I liked that was a little smaller fit, so we used that and I just kind of was like have them shirked the arms down a little bit and the shoulders so they do not look quite as big as a traditional hockey jersey so it’s fun and I’m hoping a lot of other people will take it to popular culture and hip hop, whatever… It’s pretty “gangster” if you might say. (Laughs)

Check out the lookbook to get a feel for Brian’s capsule collection.

That’s what I like about your style. It’s not only drawn from skating. It has a very broad reach. I mean, I can see people all over the world kind of wearing the stuff and that’s kind of nice.

Yeah, it is! I love to wear all kinds of genres. One day I leave my apartment with a tie on just because I want to feel different for the day, you know, and maybe wear sunglasses and walk down the street. And then the next day I maybe wear camouflage and cargo pants with a hockey jersey. I just like to wear whatever I feel around a day. It’s fun because then when you design you can feel how things should fit from whatever category: punk, rock ‘n’ roll, hip-hop, skateboarding and so on.

So, do you often shop in thrift stores or do you just go and look around what’s the thing at the moment? Where do you find what you like?

I actually wanted you to ask that! I turn forty this year and I just kind of have all these pieces that fit me so great that I actually don’t really go shopping and buy stuff anymore at all! I just kind of look at magazines and see what’s trending and walk around in New York City to see all the new stuff right away on for example the subway train. You know, all the kinds are fixing and changing ideas. It goes so much faster nowadays through the Internet. It’s easy to see what’s going on in the culture. Especially in New York City, it’s like that day or that week something becomes popular you see it. I love watching what’s the younger generation is doing with trending.

It’s kind of amazing that your generation to say broadly has been around for that amount of time that wasn’t there before. I mean I’ve been talking with multiple skateboarders about this. It’s kind of nice that you see like the cycles of things. That was not much of a thing in skateboarding before speaking of fashion cycles.

Oh yeah, it’s fun to see skateboarding go back to beautiful eras like the 90’s style again, you know. Kids are wearing little baggy pants in New York City but I’m also pretty sure that there are a lot of tight pants kids out in Los Angeles but yeah, it is cool to be around that length of time to see things come and go. And you also see a lot of fashion taken from skateboarding, you know, it’s funny. It’s like a pyramid flipped over. Before it was the top with Gucci and Louis Vuitton and all these types of things and then down on the bottom it’s like skateboarding and popular culture and now it’s like reversed, now we’re kind of at the top and high-end fashion stuff is a little below and looks up to what we do more often. It’s interesting. Everything is more mixed together nowadays. A lot of high-end brands like Louis Vuitton, Coach, Chanel and stuff they are using patches of like hand-drawn little dinosaurs and stuff, more like what maybe skateboarders would wear.

Yeah, it feels really playful at the moment. People are experimenting around with colors a lot, too.

Yeah, that’s well put “playful”.

And that’s kind of what I see in skateboarding as well like you can do slappies again. Like when I was starting to skate I didn’t see a slappy until a couple of years in and understood what it was even. And now it’s like the kids are growing up with such a broad view, which the Internet of course kind of did as well. It’s not really a question, I guess, but there are parallels.

Yeah, that’s right! Sorry, man but I have to go! Any Last questions?

No, don’t let me keep you! Have a nice day and see you in Berlin next week!

Yeah, see you there! Bye!

To get more information about Nick and Brian’s exhibition Click Here.

Interview by Roland Hoogwater