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Mark Gonzales (born 1969), also known as "The Gonz", is a professional skateboarder and artist. He is known in the skateboarding world as the pioneer of street skating, skateboarding's most popular form. In 1983, Gonzales was the first person to ollie up a curb and to clear a set of stairs. He also first applied the kickflip to street skating in 1985. In 1986, the first major gap was cleared with Gonzales's ollie at Embarcadero in San Francisco. So historical was this incident for skateboarding, it became forever known as the "Gonz Gap" and helped make Embarcadero the most popular location to skate at until its redesigning by developers years later. Also in 1986, Gonzales, together with Natas Kaupas, was the first person to skate handrails, thus cementing his contribution to street skating's early to intermediate stages. Gonzales went on to further influence skateboarding as it modernized with the 1991 video Video Days, by Blind skateboards, who Gonzales rode for between his sponsorship with Vision skateboards and Real skateboards. Currently he has his own skateboard company named 'Krooked'.
Gonzales has also established a parallel career as an artist, having shown at the Alleged Gallery in New York and various galleries worldwide. He also designs the 'Gonzo Cuntry' clothing line available in Japan and t-shirts for UARM.
He has been in a few movies, including Harmony Korine's cult film Gummo, where he wrestles a chair.
He has published a book called Broken Poems.
External links
- Mark Gonzales in The Kreativ Network
- Krooked Skateboarding (Gonzales' Vanity Label)
"Mark Gonzales"