After this session, we had to meet @pharra at the warehouse where he fabricated the Gnoggles Delta sculpture, to install it downtown, for the contest the next day. Sweaty, tired, and unprepared, we hopped on @xvlad's motorcycle and headed to one of the sketchiest warehouse areas of rio.

The sculpture consisted of 3 pieces. 2 eyes, and the bridge that connected the eye frames together.

The eyes were too big, there was no way we were getting them to the loading dock.

I watched the team troubleshoot how maneuver the giant piece of steel, out the loading dock door.

The dude had to cut some legs of his shop's shelf or there was no way this thing was getting out the door.

A sledge hammer to the cement pylon was briefly considered a viable solution.

@nogenta and @xvlad were on the scene, and they seemed confident this install was going to happen.

I was pretty tired and hungry so i went outside and walked like one block from here to get some food. The street i encountered was full of strip clubs. Loud music and partying. I got a really good stew, avoiding the prostitute's glances as i walked past them. I also bought a single cigarette off an old woman.

We tried our best to lend a hand but moving this thing was extremely dangerous. Since i wouldn't understand Portuguese i didnt want to really get in there and help move because i wouldn't be able to communicate fast enough.

By the time i got back, one of the pieces had made its way out the door of the shop.

After both pieces had been loaded on the truck, the dudes took a break to eat some food and prepare for the next step, which was driving the sculpture to the site and installing it.

By this time it was about 12 midnight.

Vlad took off, but i offered to stick around for what it was worth and ride with pharra on his motorcycle to the spot downtown, since it was closer to where i was living anyway.

It was pretty nuts to see the truck roll up at the site in the middle of the night like this.

I could tell pharra was a little nervous.
This was fucking gnarly.
I was shocked all the people who drove by and no one batted en eye at what we were doing.

Welders and angle grinders were put to use to attach the pieces of the sculpture together. At this time it was probably 2 AM.

At about 3AM i had to bail. I was worried they wouldnt be able to have this thing skateable by tomorrow.

But I was wrong

I showed up late to the event the next day and it looked amazing.

The event went on into the night followed by a skate video premier.

i didnt really document this event as properly as I should have.

i tried to skate during the event, but i was at the beach by myself earlier.

The highway by the beach gets shut down every weekend and turns into a pedestrian highway for joggers and bikes. It was cool to see, you never see something like this in the US.

I was skating like such an asshole at this contest though, i didn't mean to... i think i just had anxiety or something because i was late. i was running up suuper close behind other people and hitting the obstacle like a train. looking back at footage of me skating this the event day im like wow i was kooking it haha.

Keep an eye out for @nogenta 's documentary of this sculpture's creation, creator, and the event that followed. Its going to be really good.

The event was sick though, and @willdias mysteriously appeared which was rad.

I also met @beaglexv too, which was cool.

Heres some shorts B sides:

As you can see in that little video above, after the event i went skating with @doblershiva so see where the night would take me.

A night with the Dobler will undoubtedly lead to into a situation that you did not plan for. I knew this, and was down to vibe my way into wherever we ended up. At this point in my brazilian adventure i was not staying with vlad i was by myself in gloria neighborhood.

We started skating at the shop by praca xv and then went to an art show nearby.

We got in an uber and headed to a popular nightlife area in rio and met up with Marcelo Batista, who skates for Disorder.

He was fired up, and wanted to hit up the local favela funk show in Santo Amaro. Santo amaro was close to my home so i thought eh, even though its almost 2Am, why not.

So i hopped in an uber and headed to the funk show in the favela by myself.

It was pretty crazy, there were tons of people there and i couldnt find marcelo. he was hitting me up on whatsapp sending pictures of his location. but by the time it started to get close to 4AM i had to bail

overall a super eventful couple of days.