Roberto Cuellar was born 1987 in Tlaxcala, Mexico. He studied at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany, where he graduated in 2019 as ”Meisterschüler“ (master student) under the wings of Prof. Franka Hörnschemeyer. In the world of skateboarding, Cuellar’s name clearly out-stands for one particular thing: his skateable art sculptures, of which he has designed and crafted numerous iconic shapes already. Reason enough for us to team up with Berlin-based artist for an absolutely-banging activation at this year’s SKTWK (”Skateweek“) — the week-long festival to celebrate the culture of skateboarding that took place a couple of days ago in the city of Stuttgart, Germany.

A versatile form of expression —

The biography of artist Roberto Cuellar

Roberto’s work moves between installation and sculpture, interior design and urban art. At the age of twelve, the Mexican-born artist discovered skateboarding for himself and realized that it is also a special form of treating self-images and self-expression. Even before his studies at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, he created his first skateable installations.

Cuellar’s formal characteristics are his clear geometric and graphic formal language. Technically complex in construction, he creates sceneries from materials such as wood, steel, plastic, lighting and other components that oscillate between artistic forms of expression.

These skateable installations are characterized by the idea of interaction: they are in formal language exchange with the space that surrounds them. Building on the exploration and research of this space, they transform it, shape it, and aim to establish lasting new and durable modes of use. Moreover, Cuellar’s works invite the audience to step out of their viewing-contemplative stance and walk and navigate the sculptures. They become performers and shape the works by leaving traces of wear and tear. In this way, site-specific works are created whose urban context is reflected in materiality and formal language.

Leave your mark —

A skateable art sculpture at Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

SKTWK is Germany’s leading and biggest festival for celebrating skateboarding culture. From September 4–8 a whole week full of skateboarding madness, challenges, contest, exhibitions, parties and video premieres was on the menu. And the madness began with Roberto’s sculpture as the opening act of all skateboarding activities on Thursday, where everyone was invited for an open session to leave their marks on the fresh sculpture that just made its way from the artist’s studio in Berlin to its final destination: the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

For Roberto, the venue was a match made in heaven. With its rich history in the European art scene, the Staatsgalerie represents some of the most influential art pieces in the history of mankind, giving space to some of the most important art pieces of the 20th and 21st century. Their portfolio includes big names such as Claude Monet, Rembrandt, Franz Marc or Joseph Beuys (just to mention a few). The gallery’s prominent forecourt offers an amazing scenery that is as historical and epic as the museum itself. Of course, Roberto has put this fact into the sculpture itself while he was planning it — because his works are constantly in formal language exchange with the space that surrounds them.

We pulled up the sculpture right in front of the iconic building, ensuring that a session with more than 200 skaters and a heavily (and heavenly) big crowd has enough space to witness the event. While every attendee was gifted with a custom HUF tote bag at the registration, the event was about to begin and the energetic session lasted for some solid four hours plus.

Everlasting marks —

From the streets back to the museum

The working title ”leave your mark“ perfectly describes the main approach behind Roberto Cuellar’s work ethic and it definitely build a bridge between the modern art world and skateboarding: while skaters shred the obstacle, they unavoidably leave their marks and became a piece of art themselves. Cuellar’s describes his approach like this:

”My work invites the audience to step out of their viewing-contemplative stance and walk, skate or navigate the sculptures. They become performers and shape the works by leaving traces of wear and tear. In this way, site-specific works are created whose urban context is reflected in materiality and formal language.“

The heavy bag of tricks that went down this memorable day definitely left some marks on the obstacle. And that is absolutely fine and the way it was intended by the artist in the first place. ”But what happens after all the skating is done?“ you may ask yourself while reading these lines. Well, the sculpture with all its battle scars found a new home — this time inside a museum, when it got transferred to the Stadtpalais in Stuttgart as a contribution to yet another group exhibition about skateboarding. The circle ends and tells a compulsive and elevated story about how fascinating art can be and how specially shaped the perception of skateboarders is, who see the world and its objects differently — and start to create something new by repurpose the streets, obstacles and even modern art sculptures. We are glad that we could be part of this special story. Thanks for your vision, Roberto.

Thanks to everyone —

For making this project come alive

We would like to spread some love and thank every single helping hand for making this activation a major success. Special shoutout goes to fine lines agency for organizing the entire SKTWK. Nothing but respect to everyone single person working at the SKTWK. Much love to Roberto Cuellar for his vision and execution. Thanks to Sigi for his helping hands and power. 

Big ups to HUF for all your trust. Much appreciation and respect to team media for capturing all the moments — especially to Fabian Reichenbach, Arturs ”Mr.Boga“ Bogdanovics, Kamil Kreznak and Dominik Schneider. Appreciation goes out to Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Stadtpalais. Thanks to all attendees, visitors and friends. Thank you Skateboarding.