Lance Mountain, Spike Jonze, and Mark Gonzales. Photograph by Fred Benenson.
Ten years ago, following the release of the critically acclaimed, quirky comedy Being John Malkovich, New York City's Museum of Modern Art approached the film's director, Spike Jonze, about doing a retrospective at the museum. Shocked, Jonze rejected MoMA's offer, saying that he had only had one feature film, surely not enough of a career to warrant an exhibition. Now Jonze has given in, and this Sunday, MoMA wraps up its two-week Filmmaker in Focus series "Spike Jonze: The First 80 Years." (He's 39). Last night, on the eve of one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Where the Wild Things Are, which Jonze co-wrote and directed, the filmmaker celebrated his retrospective with a screening of skateboarding videos from the 1980s to the present, and a question-and-answer session with skate-industry legends Lance Mountain, Jake Phelps, Greg Hunt, Ty Evans, Ed Templeton, and Mark Gonzales, among other founding fathers of modern skate videos and street skating.In 1999, Jonze may have only directed one feature film, but he had perfected his craft and gained notoriety through his music videos (he's worked with everyone from the Notorious B.I.G. and Björk to Sonic Youth to the Pharcyde) and skateboarding videos. In some of his more famous works, he features exploding stairs, invisible skateboards, and videos that capture the essence of skating, instead of just the stunts. As the retrospective's curator Patrick O'Dell says, "Skate videos are more than just the sum of their parts. They capture a feeling. They are an escape for kids like me from Ohio. An escape that was out of our reach." Aside from showing great tricks, the compilation of videos also provided a glimpse of culture from the 1980s until now. Three decades ago, the kids were sporting neon high-top Chucks, skinny jeans, and bright O.P. T-shirts. The 1990s were full of grunge rock, baggy jeans, and plaid shirts, which brought us to present day. And guess what? Kids are back to wearing their high-top Chucks and tight-fitting jeans from the streets of Brooklyn to the sandy shores of Venice Beach, California.
The MoMA event drew a different type of audience than what might be expected from the museum that houses Monet's Water Lilies and Van Gogh's Starry Night. Jonze was the mastermind behind Jackass, and the crowd looked like it might relish some of the butt-stapling, crawfish-in-the-junk antics of that movie's crew. During the panel discussion, street-skating legend Mark Gonzales screamed out in exasperation, "What the fuck? Why can't you throw the camera out the car window?" He just did not understand why destroying a camera would be frowned upon by the person underwriting his video.
The Los Angeles indie punk duo No Age performed for about 45 minutes in the museum's atrium following the skate videos. Not only is No Age from L.A., where Jonze spends most of his time, but they're also active in the skating industry. They just came out with their own shoe designed with skate icon Ed Templeton. The footwear is designed for the company Emerica, and since both members of No Age and Ed Templeton are vegans, no animals were harmed in its production. The same can't be said for the skaters who strap up their shoes to tirelessly shred day in and day out.
And the party was sponsored by Pabst Brewing Company's Colt 45. That pretty much says it all.
No Age playing in the MoMA atrium. Photograph by Fred Benenson.
