Aggressive Nation Everything Sven The Netherlands' Sven Boekhorst is a blade legend that keeps finding ways to keep himself entertained and challenged on his skates.
Shades of Yee Before Xsjado, before SHOCK, before Stay Fakey, and before butt-sliding down rails in VG23, there was a unique individual that looked at the world and saw something different than the rest of us.
Index P. 3 - Everything Sven P. 7 - Shades of Yee
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BACKSLIDE / PHOTO BY GROENENDIJK
Everything Sven
Sven, you’re a busy blading guy. Glad to
Written by ONE Staff - Published on Friday, January 23rd, 2015
get some time to catch up with what all
The Netherlands’ Sven Boekhorst is a blade legend that
was the reaction like?
you’re working on. Let’s start with your last really big project, City Hopper. What
keeps finding ways to keep himself entertained and chal-
The reaction on Cityhopper Europe was great.
lenged on his skates. He retired from competition in 2013.
We got a lot of good feedback from everybody. Of
He released a most-epic video called CityHopper Europe in
course the project was a lot tougher to organize
2014. And now in 2015 he’s ready to keep pushing forward
than Cityhopper Holland, but we also tried to put
with his vision of how to get blading in front of more people
some extra work on the video animations, logo
and how to get those people on blades. We wanted everyone
and other stuff to make it a complete concept. The
to know more about how one blader can make a difference,
premiere was at the Winterclash which was really
so we caught up with Sven to get his skinny on the outlook
sick for me. The year before I did my last contest
for 2015. Here’s the scoop.
and one year later we were having the Cityhopper Europe premiere on Friday night.
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Can you tell us more about the demos and
What kinds of interaction do you have
how they work?
with the public while doing your demos
It’s actually pretty simple. I’ve got my own halfpipe
and traveling for the projects? What do
and Mind the Gap setup that people can book. A
people think about blading?
normal booking is like four shows a day with 4/5
When we are doing the shows we always try to play
showriders. Most of the time I rely on the riders to
with the crowd. With the Mind the Gaps shows this
help with set up and tear down of the ramps. For
is really easy as we can jump over them. During
the last couple of years we have had a good group
most of the halfpipe shows we are trying to put the
of friends helping out, and we also did some shows
people on the ramp and skate around them. The
in France, Switzerland and Poland.
reactions are really positive and everybody is film-
When’s the next one? How often do they
ing the shows with their phones.
happen?
Let’s go back in time for a few minutes.
Hopefully we will do the shows again next year at
When did you start skating?
the Wednesday Night Skate in Rotterdam, which is
I started skating in 1994.
a pretty cool event. Around 12,000 bladers tour the
What go you into it? And what keeps you
12km through Rotterdam City center. We also did
around?
a Mind the Gap show this year in Dusseldorf at the
I first started as more a freeskater/urbanskater
Rollnacht. It was quite funny as I went to the ISS
as ice skating is really populair in Holland. But
Dome two years earlier to watch Mr. Haffey and the
after a couple of months we started to skate more
Nitro Circus show in the same venue and now there
and more in a miniramp close to my house. We
I was, standing in the same venue with my Mind
got in contact with other riders who had their own
the Gap setup. Sort of a mini Nitro Circus. At this
grindplates on their skates so we also started make
time I’ve got some small options for next year but
them ourselves… A couple of months later we
nothing is confirmed yet.
got more and more in to the blade community and started to visit a local shop were I saw my first Daily Bread and Hoax 1… That’s when I really started to skate. What keeps me around? I guess it’s a mix of a lot of things. My friends, the roadtrips, the adrenline, the sessions, the parties, always trying to create new tricks or new projects…
ROYALE TO MUTE / PHOTO BY V. DIJK
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MUTE / PHOTO BY GROENENDIJK Before we head out, what’s your current set-up? Well sounds like we were right — you’re
At the moment I’m rolling an all-black Solo skate
staying busy. Good luck with it all, Sven
with the green SB cuff. Blank frames with new Roll-
— and let us know how we can help.
erblade sample wheels which are really fast. Finally some good wheels again :-) Not sure if they will be already for the 2015 collection.
I think it’s a good movement. I like the idea to roll on better, bigger and faster wheels and still be able to do the same grinds. Anything else to mention or people you wanna shout out? I want to give a shout out to Rollerblade for giving me the support I need in 2015 to do create an epic project…
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Kevin, before we get too far into this,
Shades of Yee
please tell people where you are, when
Written by ONE Staff - Published on Friday, November 21st, 2014
you’ve been painting.
you relocated back to MN, and how long
Hey ONE, thanks for this opportunity! I moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota about a year and a half ago. Iʼve been making art for a long time in spurts but in the last two years I have been working towards making it more of a discipline.
Before Xsjado, before SHOCK, before Stay Fakey, and before butt-sliding down rails in VG23, there
Right on. That’s interesting you call it
was a unique individual that looked at the world and
“discipline.” Now that we’ve got all that
saw something different than the rest of us. And for-
covered, how are things going in MN? A
tunately for us all, that person is still here, still blad-
big change from SF?
ing and still creating. Though he’s recently had knee
The first year was pretty hard but things are im-
surgery and is adjusting to the recovery, he’s found
proving lately. I just got a job as a prep cook and I
new inspiration in the smooth line and boundless
really enjoy it. I have reconnected with a lot of really
possibilities of brush and paint. So we asked how
old friends from when I lived here in high school,
life is back in his hometown, what it’s like dealing
as well as made some new ones. My sister and
with injury, and how discovering a new creative side
her two kids live here so I am loving being around
just might open new doors for this innovative talent.
to watch them grow up. Itʼs definitely a big change
The search for these answers uncovered more than
from SF. Mostly I think about how I miss all the
expected, exposing the many shades of Kevin Yee.
friends I left in the bay area. Also, I miss how colorful the bay area is visually and culturally. Blading wise, I really miss skating bowls. But there is a lot of rad stuff going on in Minneapolis as well that Iʼm finding out about more lately. This move has turned out to be a good way for me to start moving on to a new phase in my life. Most people saw recently when you posted about injuring your knee — what exactly happened?
KEVIN YEE / PHOTO BY HAYNES
I hurt my left knee a few times in the last year and after giving it some rest, my first day back skating I
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completely tore my left ACL. I was out filming a trick
in sync with my environment, but it was short lived
with Jeph and I landed in some grass and my knee
so there is that dark feeling in the painting. When I
totally gave way. I knew right away I was screwed.
started that one I was trying my best to remember that time and reconnect with my younger self.
It hurt like hell and I started screaming so loud that the neighbors came over with ice! I got the surgery
I see a lot of mixed media in your work.
a month ago.
How does an idea come about? Do you have a plan going into a piece — like you
But silver linings and all that, right? Now
find a texture or picture and decide to
you had time to fill…
build something around that — or is it
Iʼm not sure what the silver lining is… Maybe that
more organic and random?
itʼs given me more time to work on getting my life
Well for the most part I donʼt really know what itʼs
together and making art. Maybe Iʼll come back to
going to look like when I start. I think thatʼs part of
blading in a while and have a new take on it, who
the fun. I sometimes have an idea or a couple refer-
knows?
ences when I start, but other times I just start making marks on the page and it develops from there. A lot of the time I get interested in the lines that Iʼm creating and start to see what they are becoming and try to help them get there, although along the way they might become something else entirely. Before too long Iʼm inside a little world Iʼve created and thatʼs when it gets really fun. I would say that for the most part my process is more organic and random than planned but a plan helps me get started in the
“MINNESOTA DAILY”
beginning or get out of a bind in the middle.
What was the first painting you did in this
What all materials are you working with?
series? And what does it mean to you?
I work on paper using pastels, water colors, cray-
The first painting is of a house with a schoolbus in
ons, pens, paint pens, ink, pencils, charcoal, really
front. I did that one before I left San Francisco and
anything that I can get my hands on. I used to do a
it is about when I lived in Kansas during middle
lot of collage as well but lately Iʼm not as into that.
school. I left little pieces of collage to indicate different things that were influencing me at the time: Jesus is the school bus driver, there are some X-Men fighting in the grass, “Amerika” is across the house, and ominous little quotes scattered about. It was actually a time in my life that I felt the most happy and
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As a creative person, do you think your
People reading this are used to the idea
artistic impulses on blades or a canvas
of blading and the trial and error process
come from the same place?
it entails. Basically, if you mess up you
Iʼm not really sure. The blading and the art both
fall and get hurt. What’s the trial and er-
come from me, but who or what am I? I used to
ror element like in painting? Guessing it’s
obsess about this question but now my approach is
more forgiving to a degree?
to just let it be. Like how stirring up the water makes
Well yeah, I donʼt expect to tear my ACL or break a
the reflection harder to see. Making art feels really
wrist making art! And thatʼs part of why I like it… But
different than blading for the most part. Making art
I think with art and blading you just have to keep
takes a lot more patience and discipline for me but
practicing and your work will develop naturally. With
that may be because I am newer at it.
art I try not to judge myself too harshly or compare myself to other artists because that just bums me out and demotivates me to make stuff. The biggest error for me at this point with art is not taking the time every day to make something. And I think art for me is more important as a therapy than as a way to stand out.
“NEWS FROM NOWHERE”
What other painters or artists or people have inspired you in this direction? Some artists that I really like are Keith Haring, Basquiat, and Jackson Pollock. When I see their “SCHOOLBUS”
work I am really wowed and I feel like I could go in a similar direction. I donʼt really look at other artists work and deliberately try to copy it but itʼs kinda like when I was a grommet and I saw Jon Julioʼs skating and really identified with it because I knew intuitively that I could go in a similar direction. There are other artists that I see and Iʼm like “Man I could never draw that realistically” or whatever, just like if I watch someone like Brian Aragon skate Iʼm like “No fucking way could I ever do that!”
“UNTRACEABLE”
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Are there common themes that find their
When will you be healthy enough or some
way into your art and view of the world?
rolling?
Iʼm not sure, since each piece feels like a world on
Well the doctor said 9 months so itʼs looking like
its own. But I think my desire to get into a sponta-
around next summer.
neous flow of movement really translates into the
Sights on another edit or section?
way the pieces look. Getting into that mood is really
I have some footage floating around right now
the goal and whatever comes out of it I tend to be
that hasnʼt been seen. Some older stuff for Stay
cool with.
Fakey and some stuff I filmed in New Orleans for
How bad do you miss blading right now?
Jeremy Raffs new video. No plans for after the
Iʼm not dying to blade, my feeling about it is mostly
surgery, Iʼm just going to ease back in and see how
just curiosity. I donʼt have any official sponsors and
it goes.
Iʼm satisfied with the work I have done in the past. When I got injured in the past I felt like I had to come back strong because the vision I had for my skating wasnʼt complete. Now the curiosity is whether I can come back and find a new vision. Hopefully something that keeps me out of the hospital!
“X-MAS”
Well we can’t wait to see ALL of it. Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, Kevin. Good luck with the recovery and the continued development of your art! “VACATION”
Portrait by John Haynes
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Resources: http://www.oneblademag.com/spotlight/ everything-sven/ http://www.oneblademag.com/spotlight/ shades-of-yee/
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Desighned by: Kurt Cruz