Dave's Quality Meats: Alex Corporan of Full Bleed Interview

In anticipation of the upcoming Full Bleed book release documenting New York’s vibrant skate scene, Chris Keefe of Dave’s Quality Meats sat down with Alex Corporan. The book which also includes the help of Corporan’s partners Ivory Serra and Andre Razo, was produced over a 3 year period and will be published by VICE. Among the topics the interview touches upon are the limited success of previous New York-centric skate books and how this book sets itself apart from the rest. An exclusive release will take place at DQM on June 6th followed by a general release on August 10th.

CK: I have seen other people’s attempts at trying to convey what skateboarding in NY was like with limited success. What were your reasons behind making this book?

AC: I decided to make this book to show people how NYC was our skatepark, because we never really had “skateparks” growing up in the city. The question everyone has always asked me has been “where do you skate in New York?”. I wanted to give thanks to the skaters, photographers and architects that have made NYC a beautiful place to skate. The book is a compilation of 30 years of skateboarding photography.

CK: Does this point of view make Full Bleed different from other books?

AC: What makes this book different is that it’s all full bleed photos with no text, and it’s not laid out in chronological order, which in my opinion makes it more fun to look at.

CK: The look and feel of New York skating has changed a lot from the early 80’s through the mid 90’s – from what skaters looked like to where they were photographed. Who were some of the older photographers who contributed photos from back then?

AC: Back then there were not that many skate photographers like there is today, but the photographers that were around captured an important time in NY skateboarding. In the book, you will see photos from Spike Jonez, Bryce Kanights, Pepe Torres and Glen E. Friedman who all took sick photos back then.

CK:There are definitely a lot of spots that are no longer around (i.e. World Trade Center, Time Life, and the better part of the Brooklyn Banks). These spots were a crucial part of molding skaters from New York, what are your most missed spots and why?

AC: I miss skating World Trade because it had so much to skate, like the double set with the ledge on the side, the big rail when we wanted to get gnarly, the back to back benches, the underground when it rained, the sculpture in the middle using it as a bank and the smooth pavement which was key…

CK: I know that being involved in skateboarding as long as you have and being a native New Yorker there is some pride involved here, was that a big influential part of the outcome of the book?

AC: Definitely. The satisfaction that my partners and I got from being able to collect and provide amazing images of skateboarding in NY was huge. This place is very special, especially for skating…