Ohtani Skate Board

By Anthony “AO” Oropeza
2026/ Media: Acrylic & Mixed Media / Surface: Wood / Size: 7-1/2″W x 29-3/5″L
Original: No Longer Available

The “Ohtani Skate Board” – An AO Original

Well, AO has done it again – another first in his short 13+ year career as one of Kansas City’s premier sports artist. The unique thing about this piece is that it was created on something most KC sports artists, including AO, do not create on – a skate board deck.  So, for this project AO felt it would be cool create a California sports figure on this deck.  Plus, once finished, AO had hopes of having it land in California for a pretty special reason.

Created to Help Others

So, we all also know, AO is a fan of Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam, and in 2021 while visiting the The Cove Gallery art exhibit, a fundraising exhibit displayed within Eddie Vedder’s Ohana (Music) Fest held in Dana Point, CA, where proceeds benefit the bands’s Vitalogy Foundation which advocates for environment, homelessness, and indigenous causes, AO thought it would be cool to maybe one day donate a piece of art to help the cause – but it had to be the right project.

Of course, AO would have loved to have created something on a surf board, but it would be too big and cost too much to ship. Then, AO remembered seeing on IG a skate board deck only art show posted in 2025 held by Charles Adler at the Adler Smith Galley in Santa Monica and remembered all the awesome designs and art on this collection of nothing but skate board decks.

One of the coolest decks in that show was a deck design with a tall lanky basketball player from like the 60’s – it was a young Lou Alcindor (aka Kareem Abul-Jabbar). AO was totally blown away. Then he found out that the piece was created by Pearl Jams bassist, Jeff Ament. So, AO decided his Cove art donation art project had to be definitely on a deck and it had to be sport related – and yep, you guested it had to be Ohtani.

The Ohtani Video

Created With Recycled Paint – Tomorrow’s Artists

So, with deciding to create the piece on a deck and of Ohtani and with the idea of going to California, AO saw a great opportunity to use a new paint within the project that he received from a new paint company out of California, near Dana Point. The companies name is Tomorrow’s Artists.

Tomorrow’s Artists sent AO a few paint samples to test out and the cool thing about Tomorrow’s Artists paint – it is 100% recycled. To AO, that sounded pretty cool. And what better project to create something cool and California inspired than a project of a player from a California team, and painted with recycled paint from a company out of Cali.

So, late July 2026, AO contact the Adler Smith Gallery and asked if they would be interested in putting in AO’s Ohtani deck for the Ohana Fest Cove Gallery Fundraising Art Exhibit. This art exhibit has some really cool art from well known top notched west coast artists and it also has art from the Pearl Jam musicians themselves. With that said – and they accepted the Ohtani deck for the exhibit and AO will be mailing it out in early August for the September festival. Even though AO will not be visting the event this year, he hopes it makes a few bucks for the cause.

AO is extremely happy with the Ohtani piece especially since he was able to use recycled paint on it. He hopes to continue to test and use more recycled paint and see where it can take him and his work. Maybe you will see more deck art or even surf board art out of AO and his KC studio either at the Ohana Fest’s Cove Gallery or somewhere else – who knows?

All we know is that as long as AO has the desire to create – he’ll have the desire to help causes here at home in KC as well as …

So with that, you have the Ohtani Deck by ao.

Thank you for reading. And as AO says, “Don’t Quit & keep creating.”
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Get In Your Own AO Original Skate Board

Feel free to contact AO to visit the AOART5 Studio and get your very own AO Original skate board deck today.