William Strobeck (born March 17, 1978) is an American filmmaker, director, videographer, and photographer based out of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Strobeck directed the skate videos: ''cherry'' (2014), ''BLESSED (''2018), ''CANDYLAND'' (2019), and ''STALLION''. (2021).

Early life

Born in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

to a single mother, Strobeck grew up with his grandmother, mother, and other family members. His mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when Will was growing up which resulted in her not being around for a period. Strobeck moved around living with different family members until his mother found proper treatment. After receiving treatment and reentering his life, Strobeck's mother encouraged his creativity and freedom. Strobeck describes the void left by his mother's partial absence in his childhood as having a strong influence on his creativity.

Filmmaking

As a young teenager in the 1990s, Strobeck first started filming his friends outside the

Everson Museum of Art Everson may refer to: People with the surname * Ben Everson (born 1987), English footballer * Bill Everson (1906–1966), Welsh international rugby union player * Cliff Everson, a New Zealand car designer and manufacturer * Corinna Everson (born ...

in the center of Syracuse. At the time, the museum considered skating an art form and allowed the skaters to skate the plaza in front of it. In 1996, Strobeck moved to Philadelphia at the age of 17. Strobeck filmed skateboarding during the

Love Park LOVE Park, officially known as John F. Kennedy Plaza, is a public park located in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The park is nicknamed LOVE Park for its reproduction of Robert Indiana's 1970 ''LOVE'' sculpture which overlooks the pla ...

skate scene from 1997 until 2003. As the popularity of the Philadelphia skateboard scene grew,

Alien Workshop Alien Workshop (AWS) is an independent American skateboarding company that was founded in 1990 by Chris Carter, Mike Hill, and Neil Blender in Dayton, Ohio. Following periods under the ownership of the Burton snowboard company and original team r ...

offered Strobeck a daily retainer to be a skate

videographer Videography is the process of capturing moving images on electronic media (e.g., videotape, direct to disk recording, or solid state storage) and even streaming media. The term includes methods of video production and post-production. It used ...

for the company. By 1998, Strobeck had quit community college and doing deliveries to work on the

video ''Photosynthesis'' full time. In 2004, Strobeck self funded a day in the life film starring Mark Gonzales and Jason Dill, titled ''DIZZY.'' In 2006, Strobeck directed "''McBeth - Mark Gonzales" -'' The Journal, No. 17 - starring

Mark Gonzales Mark Gonzales (born June 1, 1968), also known as "Gonz" and "The Gonz", is an American professional skateboarder and artist. He is known as the godfather of modern street skateboarding and was named the "Most Influential Skateboarder of All Time ...

, running 12 minutes and released with Krooked skateboards. In 2009, Strobeck teamed up with Gonz and

Jason Schwartzman Jason Francesco Schwartzman (born June 26, 1980) is an American actor and musician. Schwartzman made his film debut in Wes Anderson's 1998 film '' Rushmore'', and has gone on to appear in six other Anderson films: ''The Darjeeling Limited'' (20 ...

to make the video for the track 'Any Fun' by Schwartzman's

Coconut Records Coconut Records is a German record label formed in 1981 by producers Tony Hendrik and Karin Hartmann. The label has released multiple genres of music, including dance, schlager, eurodance, electronica, Hi-NRG, Dance-pop and R&B. Artists ...

' solo project. Strobeck produced a section for ''TransWorlds 24th video, ''The Cinematographer Project'', released in 2012, featuring

Alex Olson Alex Olson (born 1986) is a goofy-footed American professional skateboarder, company owner, and entrepreneur. Olson runs the companies ''Call Me 917'' and ''Bianca Chandon''. Biography Early life Son of professional skateboarder Steve Olson, Al ...

, Jake Johnson, Austyn Gillette, Danny Garcia,

Dylan Rieder Dylan Joseph Rieder (May 26, 1988 – October 12, 2016) was an American professional skateboarder, artist, and model. Early life Born Dylan Joseph Rieder, in Westminster, California, to Joe Rieder, a barber, and Dana, née Webb, now Ortiz; ...

, and Jason Dill. In 2012, Strobeck released a short film: "My Lovely Mess," featuring Chris Kennedy,

Lizzi Bougatsos Gang Gang Dance is an American band based in Manhattan, New York City. They are known for their distinctive sound which blends elements of psych-rock, ambient electronics, hip-hop, and Eastern music influences with the vocals of singer Lizzi ...

Chloe Sevigny Chloe (; ), also spelled Chloë, Chlöe, or Chloé, is a feminine name meaning "blooming" or "fertility" in Greek. The name ultimately derives, through Greek, from the Proto-Indo-European root ', which relates to the colors yellow and green. T ...

, Lily Ludlow, Stacy Strobeck,

Tara Subkoff Tara Lyn Subkoff (born December 10, 1972) is an American actress, conceptual artist, director, and fashion designer. Subkoff made her film debut in the thriller '' When the Bough Breaks'' (1994) opposite Martin Sheen, and has had supporting roles ...

, David Clark,

, Lil' Naomi, and

Natasha Lyonne Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( ; born April 4, 1979) is an American actress, director, writer, and producer. She is known for playing Nicky Nichols on the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), for which she r ...

. "My Lovely Mess" was described by one reviewer as "haunting but often very funny." Also in 2012, Strobeck began filming his first feature length video for Supreme called ''Cherry.'' ''cherry'' was released in 2014, featuring a large variety of skaters in a series of montages accompanied by a two parts, one by Paulo Diaz and one shared part by

and

. Cherry, Supreme's first skate video in almost 20 years, received positive reviews from fans and critics. In 2015 Strobeck released "the red devil" produced by Supreme, shot on the streets of New York and Los Angeles, featuring Aidan Mackey, Sean Pablo,

Anthony Van Engelen Anthony Van Engelen (born November 20, 1978) is an American professional skateboarder whose stance is Regular. In the skateboarding scene he is well known by the name “AVE”, which is an acronym of his full name. Early life Van Engelen was bo ...

Sage Elsesser Sage Gabriel Carlos Atreyu Elsesser (born January 31, 1997), also known as Navy Blue, is an American regular-footed skateboarder, rapper, record producer, visual artist, and model. Elsesser has been sponsored by several skater fashion brands in ...

, Jason Dill,

Tyshawn Jones Tyshawn Jones (born December 24, 1998) is a regular-footed American professional skateboarder, from New York. He is a two time ''Thrasher'' Skater of the Year winner (2018 and 2022) Early life Born in Manhattan, New York Jones grew up splitting ...

, Kevin Bradley, and

Na-kel Smith Na-Kel Allah Smith (born July 22, 1994) is an American skateboarder, rapper, songwriter and actor. Originally a skateboarder from the Los Angeles area, he was known for his association with the hip hop collective Odd Future, appearing in musi ...

. In 2015, Strobeck released ''SICKNESS'', a collaboration between Supreme and

Thrasher Thrashers are a New World group of passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the family Mimidae. There are 15 species in one large and 4 monotypic genera. These do not form a clade but are a ph ...

that is set in the San Francisco Bay Area. Featuring Aidan Mackey, Sean Pablo, Sage Elsesser, Tyshawn Jones, and Kevin Bradley. In 2016, Strobeck released ''Pussy Gangster'' a 10-minute long collaboration with Supreme featuring

, Kevin Bradley, Sean Pablo, Ben Kadow,

and others. In 2016, Strobeck released ''KING PUPPY'' a 5-minute long collaboration between Supreme x

Nike SB Nike Skateboarding, primarily known as Nike SB, is the Nike brand for its line of shoes, clothing, and equipment for skateboarding. Nike Skateboarding won the 2020 Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Home/Welcome Page in the category Web. Hist ...

, featuring Grant Taylor, Kevin Bradley,

Eric Koston Eric Koston (born April 29, 1975) is an American professional skateboarder and company owner. He has been featured in the '' Tony Hawk's'' video game series and the Electronic Arts (EA) video games ''Skate 2'' and ''Skate 3''. Koston co-owns bot ...

, Sage Elsesser, and Sean Pablo. In 2018, Strobeck released the 84 minute-long ''BLESSED'', also through the Supreme brand studio. ''BLESSED'' features 2018 SOTY

, Ben Kadow, Aidan Mackey, Sean Pablo, Vincent Touzery, Jason Dill, Kevin Bradley,

Na-Kel Smith Na-Kel Allah Smith (born July 22, 1994) is an American skateboarder, rapper, songwriter and actor. Originally a skateboarder from the Los Angeles area, he was known for his association with the hip hop collective Odd Future, appearing in musi ...

, and others. In 2019, Supreme (in collaboration with San Francisco-based skate crew GX1000) and Strobeck released CANDYLAND, a feature length skate video dedicated to Pablo Ramirez. In 2021, Strobeck released ''STALLION'', another feature length video that was filmed in Milan and meant to coincide with the opening of Supreme's Milan store. Also in 2021, Strobeck released ''Mind Goblin'' featuring

Kader Sylla Kader Sylla (born 2002) is an American professional skateboarder from Studio City, California. Kader is goofy-footed. Early life He was born and raised in California, and is from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Encino. His interest in the sport ...

, Ben Kadow, and others filmed in Berlin.

Skateboarding videos

Photography

Art exhibitions

In November 2019, William Strobeck opened an art show, ''My Lovely Mess'', at MILK gallery featuring large scale photographs, projectors playing his skate videos, and a recreation of his bedroom in the middle of the gallery.

References

External links

"My Lovely Mess" - William Strobeck - Vimeo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strobeck, William 1978 births Living people Film directors from New York (state) American skateboarders Artists from New York City Skateboarding video directors Skate photographers Photographers from New York (state) Filmmakers from New York (state) Artists from Syracuse, New York Artist skateboarders