‘Saying that Michael Leon has been influential to the worlds of both design and skateboarding – and design within skateboarding – would be an understatement. While still in high school, he designed his first pro model board for New Deal. In the years since, his distinct style and… well… wisdom when it comes to his craft, have put him in a class all his own. His artwork has been exhibited internationally in numerous exhibitions. He was a co-creator of Commonwealth Stacks, Rasa Libre, and Nike’s Tech Pack. He has contributed design and art direction to Fourstar Clothing, Girl Skateboards, Stussy, DC, Arkitip, and most recently, Nike SB. Michael’s work will forever be cemented in time as one of the most admired and imitated of this century.’-
Bob Kronbauer
Michael Leon was born in 1974 in Tampa, Florida. He graduated from CalArts in 1997. He is currently based in Portland, Oregon.
Photo by Chad Kula. From the sequence ‘LA River Fall (After Bas Jan Ader)’.