GQ Style: Do you have a routine? What’s a typical day like for you?

Mark Gonzales: I kinda have a routine, I take my daughter to school. That’s my duty. She’s three. I do that every day. And then after that I get some time to do art. It’s less skateboarding now, I wish it was more skating. As I’m getting older. Skating is a lot of fun but after doing it as long as I have—you have to see a unique spot or have a desire. It’s competitive. Like: This other skater who’s a little bit older than me, he’s someone I looked up to, he’s done a trick where he slides around the bowl. It’s similar to a street skating trick because he slides so far, and he slides around the whole bowl. It looks so fun so I want do it—but I don’t want to do it the same way as him. I want to do it frontside, which to some seems more difficult, to me I think it’d be easier. That’s what motivates me, just to try to outdo him.

Who is it?

Steve Caballero. He’s been winning all the contests too—the seniors contests. But I don’t want to enter a contest. I just want to nail him with that one trick.

So healthy competition keeps you motivated?

Well, yeah, or a unique spot. The closest bowl that’s pretty good is in Bay Ridge, so I go out there. That’s why it’s a little difficult. I’ll be in the mood to do a super long boardslide at like four in the morning. I can’t go out to Bay Ridge at four in the morning. It’s a bit different. If I have an art idea or a drawing or a story or something I want to convey that’s not skating it’s a little easier to do.

Do you often find that inspiration strikes you at four in the morning?

Oh, for sure. Everybody’s asleep. That’s when you’re allowed to be creative. Because when people are awake, you know, there’s people watching you. No matter where you are. You might think that you’re in a private area and there’s still somebody that can see your shadow and say, what’s that shadow doing. Once everybody’s asleep, it’s a creative person’s sanctuary.

Skateboarding is famously frustrating. I know from experience and from watching videos, skaters are always having these psychological meltdowns because they can’t land a trick. I was thinking about that part in the Supreme video Cherry where you and Jason Dill and skating together and both losing your shit.

Yeah, well, Dill is famous for losing his temper. But everybody does. Sometimes in your mind you’re like, I can’t wait to do this. It’s so perfect. I won’t kill myself. But then I get there and it doesn’t work. It’s frustrating and humiliating. I can remember being young and having pros that I looked up to and watching them freak out and I was like, whoa, this is supposed to be fun. What’s going on here?

You don’t have a phone or any social media, what does that do for you?

I don’t know… I think it’s been a solid year maybe and I don’t even recognize it.

[Gonzales’s wife Tia who is sitting on the couch nearby holds up all five fingers of her hand.]

Five years? Wow, that’s a long time. I didn’t realize it’s been that long. My eyes are open. I’m listening and watching people all the time. I’m more in touch with the pulse of the city and the people rather than being on social media. You see some people pick their heads up from their phones and you can read their facial expressions and you can monitor what they were looking at, or at least in your own mind you can imagine what kind of message was coming through the phone.