Supreme x Ernie Barnes Skateboard (Set of 5)
Supreme vs. Original
Supreme version
Original — Ernie Barnes
Skateboard Set of 5 — The Sugar Shack (Supreme exclusive)
About the original
The Supreme / Ernie Barnes Skateboard set is a five-deck group made for Supreme's Spring/Summer 2025 season, printed with Barnes's 1976 painting The Sugar Shack split across the five decks so the full artwork appears when they are lined up. Ernie Barnes (1938–2009) was a North Carolina-born painter and former AFL offensive lineman whose elongated, kinetic figurative work depicted mid-century Black American life. The Sugar Shack depicts a dance hall Barnes snuck into as a teenager in Durham; it appeared in the closing credits of the sitcom Good Times and later on Marvin Gaye's I Want You album cover. The decks are licensed art objects, sold only as a five-piece set.
About Ernie Barnes
Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) was an American painter and former NFL offensive lineman born in Durham, North Carolina, during the Jim Crow era. After five professional football seasons, Barnes pivoted to art in 1965 when New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin paid to bring his paintings to New York City. His elongated, kinetic figures became one of the defining visual languages of Black American life in the 1970s. The Sugar Shack, painted in 1971 from memories of being barred from the Durham Armory dances, appeared on Marvin Gaye's I Want You sleeve in 1976 and on the closing credits of Good Times; a 1976 second version sold at Christie's for $15.3 million in 2022. Supreme has produced apparel featuring Barnes's paintings under license.
