Skateboard artist uses raw materials to create mosaic portraits

Local artist creates making old skateboards art

FOX 13 Photojournalist Barry Wong highlights Keenan Perren, a long-time artist who creates mosaic portraits using a unique raw material, whose artwork is now on display in the Tampa Bay area.

BRADENTON, Fla. - When Keenan Perren needs a specific color for a piece, he has to go out and find it. The long-time artist creates mosaic portraits using a unique raw material.

"I'm just interested in people. I used to want to paint, and I like portrait painting and stuff like that, but I'm terrible at it, so I just wanted to try to do it my way," Perren said. "You really can make something out of anything."

Keenan Perren's skateboard artwork.

For Perren, "anything" is old, broken skateboards. He cuts the boards into various shapes and sizes and then collages them together to create a picture. He never paints the pieces, only sometimes sands them.

"The bottom is where the graphics and the markings are. I don't like to sand off too much of this because I want to show like, it had a life, like it's been through something, whoever had this," Perren explained.

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Yes, Perren does skate and still loves to skate to unwind. Many times, the old skateboards come from old skate shops around town, strangers who learn about his work or family and friends. It’s the family and friends that are the subjects of his portraits.

At Art Center Sarasota, where Perren’s work is on display until mid-January, a piece featuring his little brother has already sold.

Keenan Perren's skateboard artwork.

"He does not skate. He does not like skateboarding. He doesn't like falling at all, but this is one of the few times I got him on a skateboard," Perren said with a big smile.

At the opening reception of his exhibition, Perren spent the evening chatting with patrons about his work and watching as they slowly realize what his portraits are made of.

"When people do see it, and they realize that it's skateboards, and then they realize that it is not painted, and I see them touch it, or they look at the sides and then, like older people might see it, and they'll tell me about stories about how they used to skate back in the day or their grandkids, that's cool to me. I do love that part," Perren said.

Perren has been creating skateboard art for nearly a decade, but he’s still in awe of the reaction his work receives.

Keenan Perren's skateboard artwork.

"It's crazy to me dude cause, like I'm in my front yard. I don't have an art background. I didn't go to art school or anything like that," Perren said. "For anybody to even reach out or say anything about it, it means a whole lot because I'm just learning as I go, to be honest."

Art Center Sarasota will be hosting an artist talk event with Perren on Thursday, Dec. 19. His exhibition will be on display until Jan. 18.

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