Every year, the Projet45 guys try to find fun ideas to raise money for their DIY project and it’s not really easy to keep people interested. Most of the skateboarders out there are often multi-talented; when they are not on wheels, they are playing music, drawing, painting etc.
Then came the idea to use the talent of our great concrete soldiers’ by doing an Art Show in Montreal, which could be an excuse to raise money, and have fun with the bros in the meantime.
Everything started pretty small and ended up having skaters/artists from the U.S. & Europe, and some of them even bought a plane ticket to cheers some beers with us.
The theme was obviously skateboarding and DIY, but the medium of expression were really varied, with painting, drawing, photography, video, and even skateboarding itself.
As concrete soldiers we weren’t completely satisfied with only showing some art in the gallery, and having a boring 30 minute visit to offer the people. That’s why we built a wallride made of concrete straight into the gallery, made with some old school parking blocks and a launch ramp, to make people skate during the exhibition.
It was a lot of fun. People were very surprised of that kind of set up, pretty impossible to do in a standard gallery. Around 400 people came that night, and it’s still going on each day during this month of April. – Babas
Connor Neeson. Wallride to Fakie.Art from Oliviero Fontana (Quebec). This installation is called "Bike it, Paint it, Skate it". The cameras on the top are made of pieces from bikes, paint cans & skateboards. They are matching with the pictures below. Oliviero is not a 'real artist', he's an OG skater from Montréal and manager at Underworld shop, he had his knee fucked twice in a year, and can't skate since two years. Since then he tried to get his interest in different stuff like photography & building stuff... He's really creative, even if he does that just for fun.Art from Sonia Khenfech (from France but living in Quebec). A girl skater from Toulouse in France, who has been a creative artist for a long time. She has a good background in art, which actually is her job.Art from Gershon Mosley, ex famous pro, still skating hard, but just for the love, not for the cash anymoreArt from Julien Deniau. (From France but lives in Barcelona), Julien has been a photographer for almost 20 years. He has a solid career in Europe, and since a few years has developed his artistic side with theses drawing and paintings.Artwork from Pontus Alv (Malmö, Sweden). Pontus is a pro-skater, DIY concrete builder, film maker, and more recently, skateboard company owner of Polar Skateboards.Art by Jacob Ovgren (Sweden) who drew this for Polar, he's also on the team, but it was included in the Pontus wall sectionArt by Pontus AlvArt from Joel Marleau (Quebec), he's a tatoo artist from MontréalArt by Hugues LauzierArt from Alban Bachan (Quebec), same as Joel, and solid transition shredderArt from Nils Inne (France). Nils is a really good skater from south of France, and a really creative artist with his painting and recycled boards constructions. He has developed a strong visual art.Art from Greg Ogden. (From France but lives in Montréal)Gershon Mosley & Sonia Khenfech (the girl who organized everything & made this art show possible - she's also a P45 concrete soldier, and skater)Project 45 in construction phaseProject 45 photo gallery. Sneak Peak of article in next issue of Confusion! Photography by BabasArt by Julien DeniauThe wallrideSkate Session in the galleryJonathan Michaud. Frontside Wallride.
