Stephen Baker is known for his visually appealing and joyfully coloured scenes, which are an invitation to momentarily escape reality and delve into a fictitious world of humorous and sentimental contemplation of the human experience and the world around us.
Some words from Stephen on his inspiration and process for the board designs;
“For this series of decks I wanted to channel some of the graphics I grew up with during the mid - nineties era of skateboarding. I loved all the artwork coming out of the skate world during this period, it was so fun and anti-establishment, a kind of cultural teenage rebelliousness all in one package. I feel back then there was a lot more smart-arse tongue in cheek artwork, really fun flips on corporate logos and amazing use of the silk screen process within the artworks themselves. I love the progression of board art throughout the years since and where different brands have carved out their niche and style but for me the late 80's and 90's had some of the best artworks ever produced.
When I was asked to create some board graphics for Verb I was super hyped to put together some artworks that I feel give a nod back to the 90's feel of artwork I grew up with and loved. My favourite artwork illustrations tended to consist of a bunch of characters within a scene attached to a rebellious narrative. Artist Marc Mckee I feel did this so well and in my opinion is one the best board artists ever.
In saying this I have always been a huge Evan Hecox fan ever since the '01 car series of boards came out and loved how in his later series the artworks spread across multiple boards and when put together would create a bigger scene. So, I wanted to capture this approach also, because to me that was a huge step in board graphics and I'm not sure if he was the first to do this but these are the ones I remember most.
So I went to the drawing board with these inspirations in mind and came up with a three deck series for Verb I like to call 'REPROBATES'. A simple scene depicting some mates hanging out at a fast food restaurant, smoking darts and getting up to tricks. When all three boards are placed together they create a larger scene.
I hope these artworks strike a chord with those that appreciate the times you have just kicking around with mates, forgetting the problems in the world just for a day.”
Shop the REPROBATES Series today and follow Stephen Baker on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/b_a_k_e_s__b_a_k_e_s/