Jim Phillips' art is so ingrained in my memory that when I'm an old man who can barely remember his wife's name the sight of a Rob Roskopp deck will probably bring back a flood of boyhood memories. Along with Powell Peralta the skateboard graphics Phillips was doing for Santa Cruz in the 80's was my first real introduction to the world of art. Looking at the boards on his website brings me back to boards I owned or my friends owned, the time we broke into a public pool in the middle of winter to skate it or meeting professional rider Claus Grabke at a skatepark in Germany.
Phillips was born in San Jose but grew up in Santa Cruz so it makes sense that he would go on to work for Santa Cruz Skateboards. In 1975 he became the art director at Santa Cruz and continues to do exclusive decks for them to this day. Phillips has also done some classic surf board graphics and has had his Screaming Hand icon turned into a vinyl toy.
