Ryan Gallant is one of the most influential human beings who’s ever stepped on a skateboard–ever! And the strength of that can’t be diminished. If anything, it’ll grow. People who aren’t even alive now will be influenced by his skating. That’s the power of skateboarding when it’s done that well, which isn’t very often.
In the early twenty-first century, young skateboarders didn’t have a voice–they were just null and void. No one dealt with them or took them seriously until Ryan Gallant came along. He leaves most with the impression that anything is possible.
Ryan deals with people in a very special and spiritual way. He’s
in touch with himself and reaches out to anyone who’s ever
seen him skating. Whether you’re awkward or graceful, he’ll make
you feel good about being yourself. That’s because he’s precisely that–himself, and that’s what a pro skateboarder’s "job" really is.
Ryan’s a genius at a time when one was desperately needed. Besides Ryan, there’re only two people in skateboarding who change the way we skate: P.J. Ladd and Southie (who changes the way we walk to school). Nothing really happened since the Gonz and Dave Vey–until Geoff Rowley came along–and Rowley himself is influenced by Gallant. If you can imagine the charisma and influence the Gonz exuded in the 80s and 90s, that’s in Gallant’s future.
After witnessing Ryan’s heartfelt, deeply emotional, and sympathetically charged video part in P.J. Ladd’sWonderful, Horrible, Life DVD, I’m reassured that the well of skating’s geniuses hasn’t run dry.
