hen I first started skating as a wee Seattle
teen, the University of Washington’s Red
Square was the spot, and Zach Rockstad was
the dude. He was that super cool, older dude who could
kickflip back tail anything, and I lionized him. Usually
those guys aren’t worthy of your youthful admiration in
the long run, but the more I’ve gotten to know Zach—
both as a person and an artist—the more I’ve learned
that he absolutely is. His work touches on everything
from the hypocrisy of organized religion to the deep
loneliness of a rain-soaked Seattle gas station at
midnight. Nowadays, when he’s not making big money
painting murals for Starbucks, he’s working on a series
called “Sex Appeal” where he uses freight trains as a
canvas—kind of reversing the graffiti-to-gallery pipeline,
and instead doing fine art on freight. Keep an eye out for
the forthcoming photo book and check out more of his
work at zachrockstadart.com. —Tobias Coughlin-Bogue36 Thrasher
COUGHLIN-BOGUEZACH ROCKSTAD
Crooked grindW