One quick look at Jason Arnold’s artwork and it’s easy to see that it was made by a skateboarder. Not only is it great art but every piece is also a direct reflection of his life in skateboarding. It was really a no brainer for us when we got the chance to support a fellow die hard SF skater like Jason and create the new Limited Edition Spitfire Ghandi T-shirt, his artwork speaks for itself.

So, you’re currently living in San Francisco, how long have you been in the city now? Did you move out to San Francsico with skateboarding in mind?
I’ve been in the city now for 5 years, but before that I was living in San Jose. I just wanted a change of pace and scenery. But right when I moved to SF all these fun parks started popping up in San Jose…so I still go down there every so often to skate with the homies.
Was painting something you got into as a result of living in SF or is it something you’ve always been working on?
I got into it a few years before I moved up to SF….just out of boredom…then it turned into a obsession. Like skating, you learn how to kickflip, then you want to kickflip a gap…then you just want to keep taking it farther.

What else do you do in the city besides skating and painting to get by, Job, other hobbies, interests, etc?
I work at a local san Francisco weekly paper in the production department 4 days a week. And other than that just Skating, painting, drinking, watching skate videos,surfing, and giving thanks to Jah!
Your portrait paintings look to be done with oil paints on canvas, do you work in any other mediums?
Nahh, just oil paint, it was hard to get used to, but once you figure it out its really easy to use and real forgiving. Its not at all as hard as people think. It seems intimating but its not. Just trial and error. I didn’t go to art school, I just kept fucking with it and it worked itself out. But I still fuck up paintings all the time, I just ruined a big one last night.

All of the skaters in your paintings are considered to be some of the greats, Cardiel, Caroll, Agah, Anderson, Mariano, Mountain, Penny, Rowley etc. How do you decide which skaters to paint? Is it personal favorites of yours, or does it usually stem from a cool photo you find and grow from there? Are there any skaters you want to paint, but haven’t had the chance to yet?
Yeah just from skate nerding out. Or Ill see an old video and get stoked and want to paint someone. But there are so many I still want to paint! Kareem Campbell, Matt Field, Palo Diaz, A.V.E, Lenny Kirk, Kennan, Phil Shao, Rick Howard, Steamer, Sheffy, Kelch, Dill, Matt Reasons, Clyde Singleton, Matt Rodriguez, Gonz…and pretty much everyone from the Trilogy video.

Your paintings also involve some images of religious figures that certain people might deem offensive. Is it safe to say that you’re a big fan of the Catholic Church? Are you ever worried about offending or just say fuck it?
Yeah, religion makes no since to me but I do like those old ass religious paintings from the renaissance era.

The Religious paintings and several other pieces of your work seem to have a dark sarcastic sense of humor to them. Do you have any favorite comedians, or movies that you think have influenced your paintings? Is humor something you try to always include in your work?
Yeah I don’t take painting seriously at all. I like to keep it funny, loose and sarcastic. I trip out on dudes when they take art so seriously, but I guess if its your day job you have to. I guess you can compare it to skating for fun to skating professionally.
What about in terms of skate artist? Is there any artist from the skateboard world that you’re a big fan of?
Todd Bratrud, Mark Mckee and Sean Cliver.

The painting of the girl holding a 40oz and a board, wearing a skate mental Jersey and stars and stripes panties. Is that a case of art emulating real life? What’s the story behind that one.
Yeah Hunter hooked me up with that Skate Mental Jersey and I really wanted to do something with it, so I talked my friend Jenny into doing it cus I knew she had those stars and stripes panties. It was the first time I had someone pose for me. I was scared to even ask her, but she was down. It was so awkward at first then we started drinking that 40 and it ended up being really fun. I forgot how strong Old English is I took about 50 photos and chose the best one. I want to do more paintings like that in the future. Girls in old skate shirts and shit like that. Its just hard trying to get my friends to get half naked.
In the past year your paintings have been featured in a couple of different skate magazines and websites including Thrasher and Kingshit. When you started painting did you have any intentions of trying to get into the skateboarding world or was it just something that kinda happened?
At First I was just painting random shit. Like copying old renaissance looking stuff, but got bored with that…and then I think the first skate related painting I did was Andy Roy and I was stoked the way it came out. Its just funner to paint stuff that you’re into. It just makes since. I also like that fact that you have to skate to “get it”. I don’t really get the “art world”, but skating makes perfect sense to me. But I always wanted to get that Thrasher “art” section, that was a huge goal…just to be in the same mag as Tom Penny, Brian Anderson ect…haha. But that’s the skate nerd in me I guess. Fuck it.

Your painting of Ghandi holding a spitfire wheel recently became a limited edition spitfire t-shirt. Tell us a little bit about how it came about. How did the original idea for the painting start and what led to it being made into a new Spitfire shirt?
I did a painting of the Dalai Lama holding a truck, so after that I was going to do a whole series of peaceful dudes holding skate shit. Like Martin Luther Kind, Mother Teresa ect….but I got side tracked and only painted those 2 dudes. Then Jim T. contacted me about doing a shirt. I still cant believe it! So stoked. Jim is also a O.G…I need to paint that dude as well! haha

You also have a show coming up at 6allery on June 25th. Is this your first solo show? What all is it going to entail?
Yeah, Im super stoked. About 42 skate related paintings from the 90’s era of skateboarding. You know …blunts, 40’s, Wu-tang, half cabs…ect. And some other random skate related paintings and about 16 portraits of some OG legends. But all skate shit for sure.
Do you have any advice for skate artist out there trying to do something with their artwork?
Yeah, just have the same attitude as skating, just paint whatever you want and don’t take it to seriously at all.
Any thank yous, shout outs, etc you want to give.
Jim and Damon at Deluxe, Mark @Slap, Hunter @Nike, Joey Digital, Tim Lierman, Johnny Pryor, The Family, Tilt Mode Army, Kevin and Erica, Uncle Fidel, William Nguyen, Ave B, Philpitas , Skate Talk, Kyle Camarillo, Jenny, Jah, Terry Roland, Todd Bratrud, Andrew S. @ Flip, Jason Vivoia, Unk, Old Dirty, Sally, Sizzla Kalonji, The 1005 house, Ocean Beach (sf) , Thrasher, Ryan @ Kingshit, Justin @ White Walls, SFBG Production dept, and anyone who’s down for skating.

Thanks Jason!

For more of Jason’s Artwork visit jasoncarnold.com/