Grind your way to graphic heaven with Yayoi Kusama’s new skateboards for MoMA

Yayoi Kusama, the much loved Japanese artist, has a bit of a thing for skateboards. While we’re not sure if she spends her weekends combing through back issues of Thrasher or eyeing up new trucks from Slam City, we do know that she has a good eye for knocking up the kind of striking decks that have the rest of the squad down the local skatepark glowering with envy.

Having already dropped an exclusive deck as part of last year’s Infinity Mirrors exhibition at the Broad Museum in LA, the dot-happy artist is releasing a new line of skateboards for New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Rather than the usual gnarly set of signifiers you see plastered on planks up and down the country, the MoMA decks will feature a skate-sized appropriation of Yayoi’s existing artwork, Dots Obsession.

They won’t be the first skateboards available to pick up from the museum’s gift shop alongside the usual stash of postcards and a commemorative ruler; the likes of Robert Rauschenberg, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol having already been given the rail-ready treatment.

MoMA say that, “These Dots Skateboards are replicas of artworks specially created by Yayoi Kusama. The original skateboards began as samples based on digital renderings of details from Kusama’s work. They were sent to Kusama’s studio in Tokyo for her approval. After reviewing them, Kusama decided they needed to be altered. She then meticulously hand-painted her famous motif over each deck.”

These details have then been applied to the decks that will be on release.

Said deck will be available in a limited run of 500, and is only purchasable on the MoMA online store. If it’s anything like a Palace drop, expect to see a big, bold, SOLD OUT sign flashing in front of your eyes before you’ve even had a chance to whip your Monzo out.

So while you work out how you’re going to beat the virtual crowds to get your hands on one, why not sit back and watch this charming mini-documentary about Yayoi Kusama.