390 - Ed Templeton
Ed Templeton has never tried to hide from uncertainty and danger. After establishing himself as a professional skater he pushed onward by founding Toy Machine, teaching himself to paint after a trip to Europe, and becoming a photographer with countless gallery shows. His desire to capture and interpret life as it happens spawns from a ceaseless fascination with every facet of human life. Ed looks unflinchingly at his life and the ones around him to hold back up a mirror for anyone willing enough to look at and learn from his artwork. Through his DIY ethic Ed has learned how to make an impact on his audience with everything from a pair of socks to the cover of his own book staring up at you. Get ready to learn from a living legend how to find inspiration everywhere you look and not be afraid to look right back, or even interact directly with it.
Talking Points
- What it feels like to be a living legend and being inducted into the Skateboard Hall Of Fame.
- The trajectory of skate art from precious to personable.
- Bolstering inspiration from other multi-talented artists.
- Finding your style before your skill.
- Innovative art that felt inconsequential when it was made.
- Removing the barrier between polished art and the people.
- What to do with an influx of cash that isn't permanent.
- Being raised by a member of the Greatest Generation.
- Handling success financially and personally.
- Living under the fear of returning to poverty.
- How Ed's first "cigarette" turned off from drugs and alcohol.
- Moving past terrible traditional role models and not being a victim.
- Loyalty and Jason Lee.
- Playing for the long game in life and not burning bridges.
- Operating with full transparency to keep your friends.
- How to build an empire that lasts and the benefits of being a dictator.
- Ed's daily workflow.
- Realizing you've made a career choice that won't last.
- Teaching yourself to paint.
- The slow build to earning your fame.
- Prepping for potential failure.
- Teaching yourself photography.
- Finding value in your unique view of the world.
- Respecting your subject matter and how to shoot on the move.
- Night Lurkers, Girls On Skateboards, and making people Others.
- The fine line of perversion and art.
- Staying unbiased to your subject matter no matter what.
- Paris during the terror attacks.
- Making transcendental photography.
- How to play to people's ego.
- What a mohawk means today.
- Forming yourself and your life with your partner.
- Being unflinchingly honest in your art and sharing naked photos of your wife with world.
- Are you cap[turing moments or just bragging?
- Skateboarding as an adult and managing injuries.
- Filling the void form your past life and finding what motivates you now.
- Are you designing for your peers or your customers?
- Everything after 1963 sucks.
- How to not taking what you're doing to seriously.
- Loving design and overturning every detail.
- Doing everything yourself and keeping things weird.
- Why you don't need anyone else's opinion about your art.
- Staying inspired when you stay in the same spot.
- Finding connections with similar creatives.
- Trying to make our perfect work look handmade.
- Skateboardings contribution to the design world over the last 30 years.
- The benefits of making things with no one to answer to.
- Showing your process and keeping art human
- Avoiding fights while you're in line.