Michael Leon

Michael was raised in late 80's, early 90's skateboard culture. His work lives in a unique place between the worlds of art and art direction. He has the know-how and discipline of a trained professional, but embodies the freedom of thought and Do-It-Yourself tenacity of a skateboarder. A combination which has produced impressive work in many forums and mediums - including paint, print, photography, film, and product design.

While still in high school, Michael designed his first pro model board for New Deal Skateboards. After graduating from California Institute of the Arts with a fine art degree in 1997, he was able to translate this lifestyle into art direction and graphic design for the Girl and Chocolate Skateboard Companies and Fourstar Clothing. It was at Girl and Chocolate where he worked with skate and BMX culture luminaries, Andy Jenkins, Rick Howard, and Spike Jonze in creating a multitude of influential skateboard graphics and apparel designs. While working at Girl, Michael launched the concept brand 'Commonwealth Stacks' which articulated the California skate lifestyle through bold, meaningful graphics on apparel and skateboards. It was through Stacks that Michael gained notoriety as a graphic designer. His work from this period is widely noted as an influence to up and coming graphic artists.

In 2003 Michael created the influential skate brand Rasa Libre. Leaving behind his earlier typography based work, Rasa Libre created a psychedelic fantasy world as well as implementing innovative new techniques in board design, including wood parquet inlays and stains that would normally be associated with guitar finishes.

Michael began his work with Nike in 2005, co-creating the lifestyle collections 'Tech-Pack' and 'Nike Sportswear', bringing Nike's heritage in sport innovation to the street. He also was the curator for colab products, before moving on to become Design Director of Nike Skateboarding (Nike SB).

Since Michael's first solo art exhibition in 2002, his artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. In his 2002 solo exhibition 'Some Girls' at San Francisco's Red Five Gallery, Michael created a fictitious skate brand and turned the gallery into a typical skateboard shop carrying it's products. Upon closer inspection, the viewer found that all the products where hand crafted.

In 2009, Michael returned to creating artwork as well as producing art/lifestyle projects, and of course, skateboarding.

New work available soon.