Roark Artifacts - Vol. 13: "Runaway Club"

H O LI D AY

of

2017

A RTIFACTS

V O L U M E 1 3 : “ R U N AWAY C L U B ” A N

E X P E D I T I O N

TO

TH E

R U SSI A N A R C TI C

“THE CHASE FOR MR. ROARK” V O L U M E 1 3 : “ R U N AWAY C L U B ” T HE JOURNE Y B E GINS I N A DI F F E RE NT PART O F T H E WORL D E VE RY S E AS O N, T E L L I NG S TO RI E S O F T H E WAYWARD HE L L IO N’S T RAVE L S B Y S T RE E T O R B Y T RAIL T HAT INSPI RE A CO L L E CT I O N O F G O O DS .

It’s a story told on the road less traveled, by a group of adventurers seeking the unknown, far from the watchful eye of the establishment. Join us as we disappear into the map, the muck, the cities and trees in search of a state of mind that only exists in between freedom and chaos. The stories in the following pages are remnants collected from Roark’s expedition to Russia – they are the Artifacts of Adventure.

Photography by Dylan Gordon

THE A R C TI C

CI RCL E

R OA R K ’ S T R A I L L E A D S U S TO T H E FA R REACHES OF THE ARCTIC TUNDRA TO CONFIRM AGE OLD STEREOTYPES SPUN A N D S H AT T E R O T H E R S A S W E E X P L O R E A VIBRANT YOUTH MOVEMENT BEYOND THE EASTERN WALL.

A RT I FA C T S CH APTER

1

WINTER’S

TEETH

CH APTER

2

NORTH

CH APTER

3

THE

RUS S IANS ARE

CH APTER

4

THE

CAP TAIN’S

A S P H A L T

SKATE

I NTERVI EW

I R I N A K U L I K O VA ,

-

S t.

COMING

& ART

MAGAZINE,

Re v ivalist

CIRCLE

HUNCH

M OCKBA BAR

Thom as ,

HOME

OF THE ARCTIC

ENTUZI AST

Jam i e

IS

MOS COW MODEL

P etersbu rg,

Ru ssia

1

WINTER’S TEETH IS HOME C HA PTE R

TO

R U S S I AN ARCT I C

EX PED I T I ON

THE

A N

Teriberka is all but dead. Once a proud fishing community of thousands in the 1940’s, it’s withered to a population of 550 year round. Mostly hardened elders too stubborn, old or loyal to leave. It’s also home to a Russian military outpost ancillary to the nuclear fleet. A perfect place to set up camp and wait for the waves Mr. Roark heard of through a distant source. After a modest detention with the FSB (New KGB) and a man named Ivan with the largest hands we’d ever seen, we settled in to our new home in the Arctic. We were greeted by a mural reading “While the cats away the mice will play.” Not the type of welcome you hope for when you’re off the grid in the backyard of a place the media and our government calls “The Evil Empire.”

ALL

BUT

DEAD

“Hardened elders too stubborn, Old or loyal to leave.�

R U S S I A

too loyal to leave

TE R I B E R KA,

C HA PT E R

2

CIRCLE O F TH E ARCTIC S TUMBLING AROUND

NO RTH

I N

THE

C OLD

After a chance encounter with a Russian military outfit launching a surface to air missile, we continued on to the remote reef we’d heard so much about from our guide Sergey. Keenly aware of our surroundings, our senses were heightened and the consequences of both weather and politics confronted our crew.

The hike in was amazing and cold. 10 degrees, but an arctic 10 degrees. The frozen ground was like marble and seemed to radiate cold into our feet with every step. We passed dilapidated houses and abandoned cars on the way in. Of course, we couldn’t check the surf from the cliff ’s edge – we had to hike in through a river and down a waterfall. So we suited up in our frozen rubber, took a shot of vodka and made our way down the cascading fall to the sea. It was flat. But we managed to find some cliffs to jump and enjoyed the plunge into the Berents, north of the Arctic Circle.

Despite our repeated attempts to dial in swell we retreated to our humble apartment to survive off of salami, beer and vodka. Mr. Roark talked story to pass time until his feverish congregation drifted off into space.

LJ

O’ Le ar y,

Revivalist

-

Teriberka,

Ru ssia

N

A N ARCTIC

Jac k

Bai l e y,

LJ

O’ Leary,

Ryan

10°

Hitzel

an d

T h e

Wolf

S U RFACE

TO AI R

M IS S I LE

“Keenly aware of our surroundings, our senses were heightened and the consequences of both weather and politics confronted our crew.�

N

CHAPTE R

3

THE

RUS S IANS

ARE

C OM IN G

T E RI B E RKA,

RUS S IA

“The Northern lights are here, they won’t dance forever!”

we gotta go now

On our 3rd night in Teriberka we awoke to the frantic yelling of our guide into his iPhone in Russian. He went back and forth with an unknown caller for 20 seconds. Everyone froze - it was an odd tone for the soft-toned Sergey. Then he began to scream in English, “Let’s go, we gotta go now. Get your stuff, we need to get out of here!” Holy shit we thought.

They’re coming for us. Do we hide? Jump out of the window and run into the night? Break out the vodka for some Krushchev diplomacy? As we all stood there bewildered, Sergey was throwing gear into his bag and finally revealed his frustration. “Come on guys, the Northern lights are here, they won’t dance forever! Get your camera!”

NOT HI NG

B UT

4

THE C A P TA I N ’ S H U N C H CHAPTE R

A B ARREN COAS T

After day 4 of flatness we charted an approaching storm in the Berents Sea. We met a fishing boat Captain who was willing to charter his boat and said “He knew where the breakers were.” As we loaded the rusty beaten down trawler, the Captain wasn’t amused and ignored our existence. His charts showed the approaching front and high winds at sea 100 miles to the north. After a day of exploring the coastline we saw nothing but a barren coast, a few dolphin and flat sea. We saw few set ups that could produce ridable waves under the right conditions and swell direction, but as the snow started to fall we abandoned our hopes. The captain, yet another Sergey, offered us some tea and herring to lick our wounds. We had failed after a week long sojourn in the Russian arctic but succeeded in discovering new people, our limits and a tundra that’s nicknamed Putin’s playground by the locals.

“The

Captain ”

aka

S ergey

HE RRI NG

TO

L I CK

OU R

WO U N D S

ENTUZIAS T

Hidden in an alleyway not far from Red Square lies the kind of local bar you search for as an inquisitive expectation-laden traveler. The kind of place hidden from the greedy hands of wayward backpackers and travel guide adventurers. But even if the aforementioned stumbled upon it, they’d quickly be spit out or would bail due to the droning Bauhaus electro-dub remixes cranking out of vintage speakers or the thick plumes of lung char cast into the small space. So our only worry was finding it - luckily our friend, “Supermodel Irina,” frequented the joint and led us to it’s holy gates.

Named after an old motorcycle brand, The Entuziast is part motorcycle repair shop, beer café, live music venue and the perfect back alley clubhouse for Muskovite musicians, artists, bikers, intelligentsia and prolific drunks. The interior is adorned with old motorcycle flags, helmets, local books, records, young miscreants, guzzling beer and discussing the next revolution. The soundtrack is a mix of local Russian punk rock, Talking Heads, Kraftwerk, Skinny Puppy and Velvet Underground. Showcased are a collection of books highlighting the Moscow punk scene, street artists and the first established motorcycle club in Russia - The Night Wolves.

BAR

& ART

ENTUZI AS T

Although details are sketchy, we believe the proprietor of The Entuziast is Dima Pantyushin – a graphic artist and musician.

His work adorns the walls of the bar and can be found in a book celebrating his own creations. Ode’s to Russian punk outfits, food, the bizarre and mundane are elevated to noteworthy ENTUZIAS T

posters. They’re one part 1960’s Minimalist and one part Neo-Bauhaus. The consistency of

Pantyushin’s design is

hypnotic and the palette is smart. The concepts are simple but communicate far beyond the Cyrillic script and basic English.

You could almost imagine everyday of your life being designed by the guy - creating an epic storyline to morning coffee, your Cinelli’s flat tire, a hard-drive meltdown, the first beer of the evening at Entuziast, intellectualizing and some Russian Punk rock. Seek it out the next time you find yourself in Moscow.

E NT U ZI AS T

7

ST

5

STOLES HNIKOV P ER M OS COW 107031,

RUSSI A PHONE:

+7

499

6,

340-78-52

04 Asphalt

S KATEBOARD

MAGAZINE

MOSC OW

I was pumped to see such a quality skateboarding magazine in Russia, what are your goals with Asphalt?

First of all, thank you very much for a compliment! Well, our goal is… I would say to make Russia a bit known in the world of international skateboarding. We want to put this country on the world’s skateboarding map to show that Russian skateboarding exists. That’s why we are working on the English translation for the upcoming issue now. As for the local skate scene we want to keep it growing and developing. We want to give local skateboarders some motivation, to share the beautiful feeling of skateboarding and give kids a greater sense of it. Help them navigate what is cool and what is not.

How strong is skateboarding in Russia? Is it growing?

It’s pretty big here actually. Not as big as in Spain or in Brazil, but it’s definitely way bigger than in neighboring China or in the rest ex-soviet republics combined all together. Moscow and Saint-Petersburg are two main Russian skateboard cities with amount of couple thousand of skateboarders in each town approximately. There are a few other regional power points like Tyumen and Krasnoyarsk with their tight local skateboard crews of a couple hundreds kids. So here we are with our own skate scene, some local brands, some local teams, some local filmers…. we have our own skateboard magazine now.

“Jamie Thomas is a living legend everywhere, no doubt. The whole generation of Russian skateboarders were growing up watching him skating in Welcome to Hell, Misled Youth and Dying to Live.”

Asphalt

04

Jamie Thomas was with us in St. Petersburg and did an interview with you. He seemed to be moved by a bunch of Fallen graffiti we saw, has he influenced skateboarding in Russia as much as in America?

Sure. Jamie Thomas is a living legend everywhere, no doubt.

The whole generation of Russian skateboarders were growing up watching him skating in Welcome to Hell, Misled Youth and Dying to Live. His style, his outfit: long hairs, a zero hoodie with scull logo, the music from his videos, everything was influential to many Russian skate kids all over the country. Fallen Shoes was so popular here, they even produced a special line for Russia with fur inside so people could wear them during harsh Russian winters. You could still find a pair of them in some small skate stores here.

The photography in the magazine is very artful, is that a goal?

Sure. We don’t wanna make a magazine just about the tricks. Pure tricks are too boring for us. Talking about tricks all the time makes you really-really mind limited.

There are a lot of interesting things in the outside world. Life itself is a really interesting phenomenon and we wanna explore it wisely, but through the prism of skateboarding. We wanna make a magazine about skateboarding culture and how it transforms and performs in it’s own unique way. There are so many interesting people who came out of skateboarding and are still somehow connected to it. We’d like to tell people about them and expose their stories from the pages of the magazine.

It’s radical to see how much sports like skateboarding and surfing bond us globally – how much is Russian street culture influenced by the rest of the world? А lot. I think the whole world of youth nowadays is under the wing of a the US influence. The youth around the globe are looking up to what’s going on in America. Facebook, Youtube and Instagram help a lot with that. These social medias create a wish for young people to live their life in an American way. All these latest trends for rap music, street fashion, action sports coming from your country world-wide. Russian kids want to look American, Japanese kids wanna look American, Finnish kids wanna look American. The world is unifying nowadays, and you are holding the flag.

We hung out at a bunch of great bars from Moscow to Murmansk in the Arctic Circle, but enjoyed the Entuziast Bar the most. Have you seen a show or crushed any beers there?

Yes. This bar is very popular to all Moscovia bohemia.

It’s situated primary in the center but at the same time it’s kind of hidden from of the main street, so it’s kind of privy. People who hang out there mostly know each other.

Most are artists, musicians, designers, photographers, corporate marketing managers, copywriters, promoters etc. and other creative dudes. You can definitely make some important connections going there.

Who’s the most respected Russian skateboarder today?

It’s easy to say who are the most known skateboarders from Russia. Gosha Konyshev who is a great all around skateboarder in general. He skates for Absurd Skateboards and DC Russia. He had a video part on the Thrasher website in the past. Tolya Titaev is also a great skater and is close to the fashion world through Gosha Rubchinsky (world famous Russian fashion designer.)

He has his own brand named Рассвет which is also quite well known in the street fashion world. And of course Maxim Kruglov who is famous for his competitive skill.

He does very well at different international competitions outside the US. I would say this trio represents Russia on international skateboarding scene nowadays. There are so many good and underrated skateboarders from Russia that we have to show to the rest of the world through the pages of Asphalt magazine.

IRINA T H E A RT I FA C T S o f A D V E N T U R E It’s not all that often that you travel across the globe to explore, and you’re greeted by a Russian super model. In my life, it will be the first and last time this happens. To further the anomaly, she’s down to earth, raw yet refined and down to hang with the homies as we skated and drank around Russia. Irina Kulikova hails from Moscow, but has spent the last decade traveling the world modeling for houses such as Moschino, Prada, Marc Jacobs and graced the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. Note that she wore a hoodie and Levi’s the whole time she hung out with us in the streets. I sat down with Irina to get to the bottom of all of this - and yes, Irina smokes dirt’s occasionally.

K U L I K O VA

WHAT’S A WOMAN LIKE YOU HANGING OUT WITH A BUNCH OF DIRT BAG SKATEBOARDERS LIKE US? Well, as long as I can remember, I was always surrounded by boys. I have my old crew - from my area, who I’ve been friends with for a long time. Then I met the skateboard crew through my boyfriend who skates too and they turned out being super sweet, funny, smart and awesome guys.

If we talk about fashion all that Soviet sadness became a big trend in the last 2 years.

It was an inspiration for a lot of people in the fashion and art world. I’m not sure if someone listens to Russian music in any foreign countries, so we really should improve it.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? I’m back to Linkin Park since Chester’s sad suicide.

YOU’RE GIG AS A MODEL TAKES YOU AROUND THE GLOBE, DO YOU FIND THAT RUSSIAN STREET CULTURE IS IN TUNE WITH OTHER INFLUENTIAL CITIES?

IF YOU WERE A LIQUOR THAT COULD ONLY DRINK ITSELF, WHAT WOULD YOU BE?

Yeah I see it a lot. Russian street culture is hot shit now. I just came back from Shanghai and it was really surprising to see Chinese fashionistas here and there wearing t-shirts with Russian words on it and the clothes of Russian designers.

The Ritz, I have a discount there.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CITY IN THE WORLD TO VISIT AND WHY? I love Moscow the most, but I also enjoy traveling to London and working there.

I love the English mentality, accent, lifestyle and basically everything about it.

I FOUND YOUR GROUP OF FRIENDS TO BE VERY CONNECTED TO GLOBAL TRENDS, MUSIC AND ART. WHAT ARE RUSSIA’S GREATEST CULTURAL EXPORTS FOR THE YOUTH?

Champagne!

A TENT OR THE RITZ?

WHAT ARE THE TOP 5 THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE? Parachute jump (Cliché - done already and never again.)

Adopt a kid (Being pregnant seems really boring.)

Figure out my real mission.

Build or buy a large house so I can invite all my friends there.

Open my own bar.

“ S T.

PE T E RS B URG

I S

NOT

DEAD”

M R . R O A R K TA S T E D T H E O F F E R I N G S O F T H E F A B L E D C I T Y. W I T H B R O A D S T R E E T S , A R T A N D A B L O S S O M I N G Y O U T H C U LT U R E – W E Q U I C K LY E S T A B L I S H E D O U R T U R F I N T H E C I T Y ’ S WAT E R I N G H O L E S , M A R B L E S K AT E S P O T S A N D A C O N N E C T I O N T O T H E WAY WA R D I N T E L L I G E N T S I A O F S T. P E T E R S B U R G .

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