What is What

The Doc is titled CRUTCH Its been a long time coming.

Performance Strategy, "Manifestation Of The Minds' Eye Imagined" #billshannon 2014 Photo by Garret Jones 2014

Street Performance, Skateboarding Crutch Goofball Provocateur Character #billshannon 2014 Photo by Garret Jones 2014

My plate is full this year with multiple ongoing projects. The Rex "project" mentioned below several months ago has stabilized after 6 months of staggeringly little sleep ( or awake-ness ) and I am happy to share with you that the Rexy continues to payoff in a myriad of very small beautiful ways and I am BACK!

ABOVE: Limited Edition Lithographic Print by Bill Shannon, "I Will Dance With Strangers" 2012 I have ten of these for sale.

ABOVE: Painted Skateboard Griptape Graphics To Communicate medical usage of Crutches with a Skateboard To Complete Strangers. The graphics emulate existing color and symbols in public space for safety boundaries and disabled people. I also added the Red Cross with MED written inside it to further reinforce the message. Normally graphics are painted on the bottom of the board and the tops are black griptape. Communicating through symbols from the top of the board is a very useful way to answer questions without them being asked.

CLICK ON IMAGE ABOVE TO READ MY INTERVIEW ON VEGANSKATEBLOG.COM

ABOVE: Arrested For Protesting Skateboarding Ban In Pittsburgh 1988

ABOVE: Custom Skateboard Paintjob @ Parade Starting Point /Photo by THOS

NYC DANCE PARADE 2012 was a fun and exhausting affair. I danced every block two or three times using my skateboard to exhibit my Step-N-Roll Flavor. I cannot really decide on how to title the form. Is it Stepping-Roll, Steppin-Roll or Step-N-Roll .. These are the kind of decisions I am not very good at making. Tons more images after the jump

ABOVE: Stepping Roll Toe Up Footwork on a cruiser board

I often times i send you here because i have just met you and you have asked me a question. Often times I dont know your name and you dont know mine. If you came here I first off want to Sincerely Thank You for not reacting negatively to my answer of " if you really want to know the answer to your question go to my website whatiswhat.com I cannot expain now". Thank you for not letting your ego misinterpret negatively me just trying to get on with my life without expaining something to you as I have been asked so many times before. Its not personal at all. I dont always say -go to my website- to every person that does ask me questions. There are many factors. If I sent you here and you came for an explanation of the specifics of why I came to skate with crutches that story is here. " What happened to you?" What do you call that" What kind of crutches are those" What happened to your leg? " etc.etc.etc. These are the questions that I am asked and whatiswhat.com remains a tool for me to deflect some of the inquisitive if disbelieving attempts to figure me out.

ABOVE: BLOWFISH STRATEGY. In my world of phenomenology and identification of sociological dynamics in public space the development of performed "strategies" as tools to unlock disable or otherwise transform the implications on my life of a given phenomena are important. The BLOWFISH STRATEGY is part of my engagement with the almost constant phenomena of AMBIGUITY OF DISABILITY. In other words...

ABOVE: This is a still of me communing with a canine audience member in Pittsburgh a few years back. Posting this up because I am looking forward to my European street performances coming up this spring 2011.

I have been taking lots of pictures long before the digital era when I was given a Kodak instamatic rectangular black box. Now with the ability to share it has changed the game for me. In earlier years a contact sheet was printed negatives stored away and that was it. If an image was particularly well done I would give it to my friend who worked at a lab and he would print them 8 by 10 color on the side for free. Each image now is a passing thought whereas before it was a work that earned its right to be printed. I love photography. I am not a photgrapher.

This is Stepping Roll. I created the root of this form to simply walk long distances while living in Chicago. The skating depicted in this video is me pushing the boundaries of what I am capable of and not an everyday type of activity for me. I do want to get this style on tape and uploaded for the world to enjoy and hopefully adopt. So clik thru for the background info.

“Through Shannon Public Works*, I plan on reconciling the gap between what I feel is possible in experiencing street performances and what audiences up until this moment have been able to experience. The three interrelated projects making up Shannon Public Works are connected by the conceptual belief that a naturally-occurring street environment is imposed upon by an audience to the extent that a virtual proscenium is manifested and the performance is thereby isolated from the very environment it is meant to exist within. The efforts made in Shannon Public Works address this conceptual belief and are designed to allow an audience to watch a performance in the street while preserving the integrity of the landscape. In short, I wish for audiences to see as I see and walk as I walk but at the same time allow me space to share without being in the context of their gaze.”