Surf Culture in Contemporary Art
Henry Jock Walker is a surfer and artist whose art worlkengages directly - and often ironically - with the Australian communities in which he travels. The artwork above is "Bowl Morpher" was created (as far as I can tell) for the NExt Wave festival who say this about his work: "Live ephemeral performance is an integral aspect of surfing culture. Henry Walker’s intuitive performances of abstract painting and making in an art space, studio, public or surfing context are documented and displayed by hijacking methods of presentation from surf culture. The crossover of surfing action and action painting morphs his practice onto a unique platform for exploration between the surfing and art community. "
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Shaun Gladwell is an Australian video artist from Sydney who video whose Pacific Undertow sequence was filmed in the middle of a "dump" but appears eerily calm.
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Vernon Ah Kee is an Aboriginal artist whose work uses plays on words and objects connected to the history and language of colonisation to expose underlying racism in Australian society. After the Cronulla riots ("Aussie" vs Middle Eastern race conflict at Cronulla beach). he created the work on the left as a critique of the exclusivity of Australian surf culture. He has gone on to create many other installations of surfboards.
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Lori Blondeau is an indigenous Canadian artist whose work critiques pop culture's colonising influence on indigenous women. The image above is "the lonely surfer squaw". In this image, her intersectional feminism deconstructs both a classic surfie magazine pose and the pop culture idea of an 'Indian squaw'.
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Pop Culture references
You can't discuss surf culture in Australia without acknowledging key designers such as rip curl and Mambo whose bright colours and naive style made them fixtures in the Australian fashion industry. where rip curl used simplicity and naturalism, Mambo went for surreal and emotive, but but had a lasting influence.
Even if these designs aren't your thing, you may wish to reference their colours, styles, logos or fonts, especially if you're taking a critical or ironic stance on surf culture. Also pop culture related: If you enjoy retro music, go back to the songs, videos and images of the 1970s era when "Surfie" culture first developed. The Beach Boys, in particular, had enormous influence - their clean shaven look and laid back musical style was a far cry from glittery disco groups like ABBA. How might this translate into art? |
Random thoughts and connections
- While trying to get past the standard but awesome shots of surfboarders in my head, I wondered if the concept of drift wood (which is essentially what surfers are) might be useful - either as a metaphor or as a medium?
- What about he wave themselves? Apart from Hokusai's famous print (which has about a million spin offs and parodies), There is that amazing whoto pf the light housekeeper in a storm, or even Turner's impressionistic painting of a ship in a storm. (see below) What about Paul DeSomma and Marsha Blaker's amazing glass sculptures?: Even if you're not creating a storm, the way such artists look at waves might trigger some interesting ideas.
- And if waves inspire you - look further afield at the way the installations in Sculpture by the Sea interact with the ;liff landscapes between Bondi and Coogee beaches.
- what about a literal interpretation of sufie's naming of waves - eg; a scultpure using pipes?
- Surfpoards are boat-shaped, which made me think about refugee art and artists like south African, Mohau Modisarkeng, who use the boat as a powerful political image. (see above)
- For the painting of surfboards, see if you can find images connected with South Africa's Wavescape Festival - random artists are invited to paint surfboards which are auctioned off for charity. Try googling "wavescape festival" + "artists" + "surfboards" etc as a image search.
- You might want to interrogate why almost every artist I found connected with surfing was male and what this means about surfing culture in general.