• Ed Templeton: Wires Crossed
  • 2023-04-15T00:00:00+02:00
  • 2023-09-17T23:59:59+02:00
  • In Wires Crossed, Ed Templeton shows the subculture of skateboarding from 1995 to 2012 through photographs, drawings and texts. Templeton is a photographer, artist and one of the most influential skateboarders of all time.

Ed Templeton: Wires Crossed

During his many tours throughout America, Templeton (Garden Grove, California, 1972) recorded skate culture using his 50-mm camera. These snapshots show Templeton’s journey as a photographer and the lives of professional skateboarders – who were continually on the move, revelling in their newfound status as rock stars – and the search for new terrain to skate. There are fleeting moments with fans, authorities, one-night stands and rebellious friends.

Wires Crossed

To date, skateboarding is regarded as a culture opposed to the establishment, often by skaters themselves too. Skaters are 'rowdy', 'lazy' and take drugs. These stereotypes mean that skaters are still not understood – and for some of them, that isn’t necessary anyway. Hence the title Wires Crossed. A phrase often used in English when you misunderstand each other.

Ed Templeton, Wires Crossed, grafisch element.

Through the eyes of an outsider

As a professional skater who has been a vegan for years and doesn’t drink or use drugs, Ed Templeton looks at his own community through the eyes of an outsider, in a certain way. Templeton’s drawings and photos, sometimes painted and annotated, have been exhibited all over the world. Especially for this exhibition, the works have been intuitively re-grouped by the photographer. Some of the works have not even been shown before.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication, entitled Wires Crossed. This exhibition is made possible by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Province of Limburg and the VriendenLoterij. 

Leading image: Ed Templeton, Mike Maldonado skated a full pipe, Davenport, Iowa, 1998, GSP, 132,08 x 91,44 cm. Courtesy of the artist.