Craig Robert Stecyk IIIis an American artist, writer, photojournalist, and filmmaker who has documented and influenced the surf, skate, and Kustom Kulture. Born in 1950, Craig led an inspired childhood; his mother was a ceramicist and his father a World War photojournalist, car painter and known associate of George and Sam Barris. Through his father's dealings C.R. was tied into the Kustom Kulture at an early age, indexing with pioneers Kenneth Howard, Ed Roth, Boyd Coddington, Walt Prey and Dean Jeffries. Craig grew up in the water at Pacific Ocean Park and started surfing when he won a board from a local radio station. He befriended roughneck rebel Miki Dora and began photographing surfing's anithero with his father's 35 mm. Through the 60s and onward his work was published in Surfer magazine starting with long form articles like "The Crackerjack Conspiracy" and later "The Curse of the Chumash." 1972,Jeff Ho,Skip Engblom, and Stecyk opened a surf shop called Zephyr Surfboard Productions inSanta Monica, California. Simultaneously, Craig's "Dogtown Chronicles," depicting the innovative behavior of the "Z-Boys" team for Skateboarder Magazine, codified the art of riding a wood plank on wheels with aggression, style and an ethos of what skateboarding would become, solidifying it as an aspirational lifestyle rather than a passing trend akin to the yoyo. It was during this time that he emblazoned the decrepit walls of the post P.O.P. pier with his conception of a new handstyle, blending the ancient calligraphy of the east with the glyphs of the native tribes inhabiting the pre colonial landscapes of California's coast. Images of the uncommissioned public adornments would later be propagated by Thrasher magazine as the omnipotent call to arms "Skate and Destroy," a publication C.R. co founded along with lowbrow art magazine Juxtapoz. Stecyk's creative vision informed the antimarketing tactics of Powell and Peralta, which resonated with the anticorpo culture and galvanized the entity as the largest skateboarding company in history. Craig utilized the commercial printing capabilities of Colby Poster in Culver City to supercharge the prolific nature of his personal public service announcements, installed on myriad telephone poles across the deserted desert scapes of North America's interstate highway and byways. Stecyk has collaborated on projects and products with the likes of Michael Jordan, Lebron James, John Florence, Pete Carroll and Billy F. Gibbons. His work is in the permanent collections of LACMA, MOCA, and the Smithsonian.
