From afar, Bosco Sodi may seem like an unlikely fan of snowboarding. The Mexico City-born artist has spent a career away from our little industry. But look closer. His works often focus on nature, the little details and unpredictability that accentuates it, and the freedom it so often provokes. Now look at snowboarding. The littlest details, nuances, and changes in texture can make a world of difference when scoping lines or studying weather before a day in the backcountry. And freedom? Well, if you’ve spent a day in the mountains or lapping some untouched groomer, then you know that freedom certainly exists. Bosco designed the base graphics for the 2026/27 Family Tree line of snowboards, and of any boards in our line, they best epitomize that ethos. So, if you’re unfamiliar with Bosco Sodi, let us introduce you. He’s an artist and a snowboarder, and we’re glad to have worked with him.
"When I talked to the people of Burton, we agreed that I was going to have total freedom on the design, so it was very organic as a work..."
Norm: Can I start by asking you to do a quick introduction since it's being recorded for the camera? Name, what you do, what kind of art you create, if you're able to categorize it, and then what your connection is to Burton?
Bosco: My name is Bosco Sodi. I'm an artist. Mostly, I do painting and sculpture, and I did this collaboration with Burton because I've been a really big fan of snowboarding since I was very young.
I was going to ask, are you a snowboarder yourself?
Yes. Me and my wife, my two kids go. The only one that doesn't do it is my daughter; she's a skier.
How long have you been snowboarding?
41 years
"...for our family, snowboarding is a really important part of our holidays. And when I got the proposal, I immediately jumped in..."
Oh, wow. I know there's such a deep connection between snowboarding and art. So snowboarders are artists themselves. And many other boards in this line were designed by snowboarders. Do you see an intersection between the two, and did you enjoy working in snowboarding because of that, if you saw it?
No, I don't think so. But I think what snowboarding has is a connection with nature, and a connection with yourself that, in a way, also happens the same way when you do art, either for a hobby or as a professional artist.
I know there are a lot of nature influences in this series of boards. Can you describe what you created for this line?
Well, the whole philosophy of my work is how the accident, the non-control, the unpredictability makes things unique and unrepeatable, and that's what I wanted to show in this snowboard. Because in the end, snowboarding is about that. It's about non-predictability and just letting go and enjoying the experience. I wanted to reflect that on the board. I didn't want to make a perfect design. If you see them [the boards], they're not totally balanced or on balance. It is much more abstract. That is not so normal for Burton.
I know there's a lot of texture in this board as well, just the textures of nature. Is that something you enjoy exploring or have explored in the past? And then why would you want to do that for this snowboard?
Oh, my work is always about texture, about a lot of texture to make it look as natural and organic as possible. And I wanted to have this reflection, even though they're flat, in these boards to make them much more organic. As you know, the Family Tree is a line to do…I don't know how you call it—out of bounds. Backcountry. So I wanted to give that feeling of freedom, of organic-ness, naturalities.
I was going to say, I think this is the perfect board for your artwork to be on, just because, as you said, it is a board for that. It's not a terrain park board.
Exactly.
So, it does fit. Did you want to work on this board because of that, or did that end up just being a coincidence?
No, that was a coincidence, but I think it was a nice coincidence, no? Because in the end, my work is about freedom, and this part of snowboarding is about freedom, about discovering, about unpredictability when you go in the trees out on the mountain, which we do a lot of with my kids. You never know exactly where you're going to go. And that's part of what is nice. It helps you to disconnect because you have to be 100% focused on what you're doing.
Was this the first snowboard that you've worked on?
Yes.
How was that process?
I have done several collaborations with other types of things, like rings or rocks, so it was really organic because I also had total freedom. When I talked to the people of Burton, we agreed that I was going to have total freedom on the design, so it was very organic as a work, you know?
I just know that it's such an interesting shape; the canvas itself, it's not a standard square. I know some people find that interesting. It’s almost rectangular.
Yeah, I mean, it's a totally different exercise to make it in a painting. But I mean, in the end, it is design. So you can always move a little bit left or right, and I try to balance them as much as possible. Even though there are cracks and everything, I wanted to not look like I just put an image and that's all.
I think that does very much fit into the ethos of snowboarding, like finding balance even through the imperfections, the cracks, the little textures.
Exactly.
Do you have any parting words?
I mean, I wanted to collaborate with snowboarding for a long time because, for our family, snowboarding is a really important part of our holidays. And when I got the proposal, I immediately jumped in because it was something that I really liked. I really wanted to do it.
