CALIFORNIA LOCOS X ROBERT WILLIAMS
Internationally renowned Lowbrow artist Robert Williams and the legendary collective California Locos have teamed up with Dusters California to create the quintessential skateboard collaboration, with two releases, in January and April of 2020. Joining forces again with Nano Nóbrega, the Locos’ resident skateboard curatorial genius, the Locos/Williams partnership is comprised of 5 separate designs, from longboards to cruisers, utilizing the artwork of Williams and encompassing the entire board including trucks and wheels, not just the bottom of the deck, as is generally seen.
Robert Williams is well known as the pioneer of Lowbrow art, being seminal in the founding of Juxtapoz Magazine- the world's most popular art magazine, as well as his work with Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and in the contemporary rock and punk scenes, having done the Guns and Roses controversial record cover bearing the image and title of his work "Appetite for Destruction", as well as having high profile fans and collectors such as Anthony Kiedis and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Williams also launched the "Ratrod" movement with the hotrod which currently bears the name "Prickly Heat". Before being painted in its flamboyant hotrod race style, it was considered the first ratrod to hit the streets and in its rusted yet pinstriped and finalized state, sparked the movement. The Prickly Heat is paid tribute to by the Locos with a custom board, which emulates the colors and intensity of the car itself.
The Locos/Robert Williams collaboration began after he was included in a major California Locos show in L.A. in 2017. Dave Tourjé, founder of the Locos said: “Including Robert in our show was the inspiration for us to create a skateboard line with and for him, after all the success we had with our own line the year before. Robert impacted all of us and is one of my own early influences in art. It is such a rare honor to work with and collaborate with someone so important to the subcultures the Locos deal in. We had to go “next level”- and did!”. Added Williams: "I can stand behind and be very proud of doing skateboards because I belong to a part of the world that is recalcitrant, a part of youth that cannot be controlled".
