NEW DEAL X CAB Artist Edition Capsule (Holiday ‘20)
Enter the CAB Dragon

Products

NEW DEAL x CAB Skate Deck

NEW DEAL x STEVE CABALLERO Artist Edition

“CAB Dragon Bomber” 

Limited Edition Skate Deck, 2020

$95

8 5/8” Wide 14 ¼” Wheelbase 7 1/8” Nose 6 ¾” Tail

Screenprint on 7-ply dyed hard maple.

Numbered edition of 300 with 10 Artist Proofs.

Accompanied by a numbered Certificate of Authenticity from New Deal Skateboards.

NEW DEAL x CAB Art Print

NEW DEAL x STEVE CABALLERO Artist Edition

“CAB Dragon Bomber”  

Limited Edition Art Print, 2020

$30

18 x 24 inches

Offset Lithograph on 80# Accent Opaque Cover

Illustrated by Steve Caballero. 

Signed and Numbered edition of 200 with 20 AP's

NEW DEAL x CAB Skate Shirt

NEW DEAL x STEVE CABALLERO Artist Edition

“CAB Dragon Bomber”  

Limited Skate Shirt, 2020

$28

In sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL

100% Cotton

Made in Mexico / Printed in USA

Illustrated by Steve Caballero. 

Design by Gorm Boberg.

Screen printed by Patrick Jensen at Freedom Artists.

Steve Caballero Gallery

NEW DEAL X CAB : Steve Caballero Interview
”Coffee with Cab”

Steve Caballero: Hey, I'm Steve Caballero. I'm a professional skateboarder, artist and toy collector.

Ted Newsome: Perfect, love that.

Steve Caballero: Can I drink coffee?

Ted Newsome: Absolutely you can drink coffee; it's critical. When did art become part of your life, Cab?

Steve Caballero: Well, art has been part of my life pretty much since the beginning of learning how to write or draw anything as a kid. I've always been intrigued with art, comics, cartoons, Saturday morning cartoons. I started out just like everybody else, stick figures; just drawing shapes and things. Over time I would dig into trying to emulate comics. Drawing stuff like Spider-Man, Batman, Planet of The Apes. I loved art. Art was an easy class for me. I took it from elementary school to middle school, to high school. I actually even took one college class in art: life drawing. It wasn't until around 2005 that I really wanted to dig into being an artist as a career. Something that I could progress at like skating.

And I just wanted to be a part of this scene that I saw a bunch of skateboarders being a part of. Guys like Lance Mountain, Andy Howell, Mark Gonzales ... a lot of skaters were doing these art shows and I felt like I wanted to be part of that. So, I really got serious about it and went to the art store and got some paint, sketchbooks, and brushes. I just went at it and I wanted to learn to be better at drawing.

Over time I would visit a bunch of different art shows to get inspired. Seeing other people's art always has inspired me. When I looked at art, it always looked like a challenge to me, rather than looking as like, "Oh, that's something that I could never aspire to be." You know? So art, just like skating, has always seemed like a challenge to me. Something that I really wanted to persevere and have a passion for.

Ted Newsome: Tell me what you're working on right here.

Steve Caballero: Well, I'm working on a little project here that was presented to me from Andy Howell for an art show; 30 years of New Deal and the art behind the company. I got picked as one of the artists to recreate one of the original graphics that Andy drew for New Deal. Andy gave me some choices and I picked Danny Sargent, pro skateboarder at that time. I really liked his monkey holding the bomb and I thought I could add a little twist to it that would represent the art that I do and something that correlates with my graphics back in the day as well.

Ted Newsome: Did you have any connection with Sargent?

Steve Caballero: I guess the only connection I had with Danny was he's a Nor Cal boy like I am. And I would skate with him, different times he'd show up at different parks and stuff and I would skate competitions and stuff with him. I would watch the videos that they would put out for New Deal. But as far as like a close friend, no, I mean, he was just an acquaintance that I just knew he was a Nor Cal ripper.

Ted Newsome: What was it about the monkey bomber graphic that attracted you?

Steve Caballero: That one just caught my eye because I like monkeys. And actually, when I first did the graphic, I drew the monkey how I would draw it. And then I kind of looked at that and I'm like, "You know what? Maybe I should kind of add a little bit more of a twist so it kind of relates back to me as an artist." So, I ended up drawing this. And right now I just did the pencil work for it and I'm about ready to ink it. And once I'm done finished inking this, I will give this to Andy and then he and Gorm Boberg will add colors to it.

Ted Newsome: This is a question from Andy. What is your focus as an artist? You seem multi-faceted, and I want to understand how your love of collectible figures, art, skate graphics, et cetera, play into your fine art and commercial art.

Steve Caballero: Well, like I said before, art is a huge challenge for me. I love challenging myself. I love taking on projects that I feel I can grow as an artist. Trying to attempt things that I've never done before as an artist and just like skating, I learned a lot about failing to succeed at things. So I know with art, you fail a lot because you'll redraw and redraw things and it just takes a lot of time. I mean, being a good skateboarder, you have to have a lot of time on your board. Being a great artist, you have to have spent a lot of time with a pencil and a brush. And I've spent a lot of time with this brush and ink learning how to ink and what inspires me is the art from the 80s.

A lot of artists like Court Johnson, Jim Phillips, a lot of those artists used a brush and they used ink. So, I'm more of an old school style artist where not so much digitally, not so much on the computer. I love doing stuff organically with paper, pencil and brushing ink. And that's what is attractive to me. Even looking at the mess ups that you do, we have to wipe them out and everything.

I mean, I think that's just part of the whole art process of not being a perfectionist, but something that you can grow at. And something that I've seen over the years since I got really into it in 2005, I've seen the progression of my art grow. And in turn, that's attracted people in other industries where I've done projects for like BMX, for Haro, I've done stuff for Indian Motorcycles. I've done stuff for the dirt bike motocross industry. And also, some skateboard companies have hired me to draw graphics as well.

Ted Newsome: When you first started collecting toys, did you ever think you'd have toys created from your art?

Steve Caballero: No. I actually never thought that I'd have a toy of my own. As a kid, I loved toys and in the late 80s, early 90s, not much skateboarding was going on and I had plenty of money in the bank to waste. So, I started collecting toys and started having these collections. A huge evil Knievel collection, Spider-Man, Batman, Planet of the Apes, Nightmare Before Christmas, just all these different collections of toys. But I never thought that I'd have my own toy. And especially having toys made from the art that I've created, which is another really cool avenue that is attractive to me. I collect toys and now I'm collecting the toys that people are making for me as well. So, art is awesome because it's unlimited; the possibilities you can accomplish with it.

And that's my drive, to see how far I can take this and see what other avenues, what other doors can open up. And I just know the more that you do, the more you put yourself out there, the more you're available to meet people's needs, people want to use you in that way. And obviously I'm banking off my fame and legendary status as a skateboarder, that helps, definitely helps my art get pushed out there. But also, I want the art to speak for itself and I want people to say, "Hey, that's a great piece of art." And that's what drives me, is I want to be the best I can.

Ted Newsome: Yeah, your name will get it out there, but it's got to stand on its own! Let's see, how did you meet Andy Howell?

Steve Caballero: Wow, meeting Andy Howell. I met him through a chain of letters. I used to make this 'zine back in the day called Speeed 'zine. It had punk rock in it and skateboarding and I was trying to emulate things I saw in Skateboarder and Thrasher Magazine. So, I had this art section and I was having all these pen pals from all over the U.S. that were making their own 'zines and I had this thing, "Submit your art and maybe it'll show up in Speeed 'zine" and here we go, Andy Howell; I get this letter from Andy Howell. It's a picture of a skeleton doing kind of like a lay back, and it has the Faction on it. I'm like, "That's pretty cool." So, I ended up putting his art on the cover of one of my Speeed 'zines. I still have that issue; I saved all the layouts and everything that I would use for the Xerox machine and to print. So I still have his original art glued onto a piece of paper. So, that's how I met Andy. So basically, he was making a skate zine himself and we've talked about his scene there where he lived and that he was a skateboarder. And then lo and behold years later, I see that he is riding for ...

Ted Newsome: He turned pro for Schmitt Stix.

Steve Caballero: That's right, Schmitt Stix first and then they started New Deal and it was showcasing his art. His art had come a long way from this drawing that he did for me in Speeed 'zine! Then over the years, I just kept seeing his art grow and he was starting to do gallery shows and everything.

At the same time, I was venturing into art and I would see him in Juxtapoz Magazine and all these places; he was becoming a well established artist and I was seeing his art grow. So, we just always kept in contact and I started to get more influenced by his art because of the way he drew and the way he lines and the way he drew figures. And so, that's my connection with Andy. And it's grown from a pen pal to skating with him in competitions to participating in art shows together. And then now working on this project where I'm actually drawing a graphic based on one of his drawings. So, it's kind of a full circle, it's really cool.

Ted Newsome: Not that many people know that Andy could skate ramps so good; he was a good vert skater.

Steve Caballero: Yeah, great skateboarder at the time and I saw his art change and grow and come into his own over the years. So, it's great that we're still friends and we can still participate within skateboarding and art, it's amazing.

Ted Newsome: It's great to see your art evolve as well Cab; I look around your house and your art is everywhere.

Steve Caballero: The way that I do art is the way that I've attacked skating. I just try not to limit myself because there's so many mediums of art out there that are so very challenging. And if you get bored with one, you can venture into another. So, you can go from pencil work to watercolor, to oils, to acrylic painting, to inking with black brush, to stencils with spray paint.

I think it's great as an artist to become well rounded because when there's an opportunity put upon you to do a certain type of art, if you have those skills, you can get hired for that job. If someone approaches me and says, "Hey, can you design something like this?" I want to have those skills. So, that's why I dip in and if something's attractive to me, I try to learn it and I try to be the best I can at it. And that just takes time and passion.

More Art

New Deal 1990 Exhibition
*Artists