FATBURNER

Took delivery of my fab new 5'10" fatburner from the lovely, loopy Greg Webber who obviously had fun signing his signature along the stringer (see pic). Gave it a test ride yesterday at Bungan in some cute little punchy numbers and it's officially my new best friend. Pity it's so flat today otherwise we'd be on another hot date. Had a chat with a longboarder on the steep climb back up from the beach who said he had "man-flu". I told him I think I have Giardia. Am looking forward to meeting up with Dr G. Spot today for medication and emerging with renewed vigor to take on end of week swell with my new bestie. Thanks Gregoire x

WHITE POINTER POINT

Lighthouses abound on the treacherous South Australian coastline as do cracker surf breaks. After a week of healing surfing with the local dolphins and my amazing girlfriends around this magnificent, remote area, I headed out to this point to pay my respects. What happened next was nothing short of a mystical experience. Scores of white pointer sharks converged in the colliding currents below. It was particularly trippy because my soul buddy had just departed these Earthly shores and his Fijian totem was the shark. I certainly felt his spirit flying free and wild and hopefully protecting me and all our mates in the surf.

Coming soon! 'Sea Hags Ahoy!' - the film of the trip with music by 'The Break'.

SHIFTING SANDS

'Another Day In Paradise' was the title of this stop motion animation which featured in Wax On earlier this year. It was shot on the breakwater at Nobby's Beach, Newcastle by New Zealand artist Sarah Smuts-Kennedy who is currently represented once again at Hazelhurst Gallery in the exhibition 'Shifting Sands'. The fab Ace Bourke is the curator. Not only is he the guy who owned the YouTube sensation Christian the Lion, he is also a descendant of Lieutenant Phillip Gidley King, who with Captain Arthur Phillip in the First Fleet had early encounters with Aborigines in Botany Bay.
'Dream Paradise' is Sarah's new work, inspired by Joni Mitchell's lyrics "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot". It's comprised of seven totem poles that throw shadows on her two videos of landscapes in Kamay National Park at Kurnell. Cool stuff.

HILDA'S HELMET

Helmets rock, according to Hilda (seen here fresh from a surf at North Avalon). Not only does it protect her head from head-ons with other people's boards, it also keeps her head warm, she reckons. And what's more, it keeps the cold water out of the ears. Given the current temperatures, it might be a good investment.

I ❤ Green Ones

Gotta Love this:

http://www.surfersvillage.com/surfing/48231/news.htm

WAX OFF

"Wax On. Wax Off." That immortal line from the classic 1984 film 'The Karate Kid' has inspired more than just a few people over the years. I used the title 'Wax On' for the first party that I helped organise for the Bondi Girls Surf Riders, held in association with Bondi FM at the Bondi Pavillion back in 2007. We had another big bash under that same title the following year but the girls decided to scale it back for the tenth anniversary last year which they held upstairs at the Waverly Bowling Club (a memorable night for many reasons!).
So I used the title for the contemporary surf-inspired art exhibition at Hazelhurst instead. When it wrapped I posted under the title 'Wax Off' but it seems that another art gallery is using it to launch their second surf art show in Melbourne this month. The one thing that strikes me about the line-up is the lack of chicks represented. Lucky it's not like that in the surf.

http://www.green-woodgallery.com/?module=exhibitions

WALK AGAINST WARMING

Climate chaos played an appropriate role in yesterday's Walk Against Warming which attracted 10,000 people in Sydney alone. I was asked to represent on behalf of The Climate Project and was the first speaker to address the rally. Everyone at Belmore Park near Central Station was basking in sparkling sunshine. But just as the speeches drew to a close, the heavens opened up and the rain pelted down. Hail was even reported falling in some parts of the city. One surfie chick i know was out at Long Reef and had to hold her board over her head for about five minutes protection. The ice was so strong she now has little dings all over the bottom of her board!

The Sydney Morning Herald has a report on the event:

(http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/thousands-protest-on-climate-change-20100815-12506.html)

News flash! Al Gore signals me out on his blog: :http://blog.algore.com/2010/08/the_movement_we_need.html

SURF'S UP

Surf's pumpin' so I'm heading off to pick up my board which got dinged in the tiny Rex jet coming back from Ballina. Don't know how it happened as there were only six of us on the flight so it wasn't as if it got crunched in all the luggage. Went to collect it the other day only to find that my fixer had somehow managed to put another ding in the tail. Cripes! Can't wait for that new fatuburner to arrive. Meanwhile, here's a pic of me going out on the first day of the swell in Malibu last March. Nearly drowned in all the weeds but a fun (if somewhat chilly) time was had.

BYRONIA

Whales breaching, dolphins frolicking, warm waves peeling, hippies nuzzling....where else could you be but Byronia?

Lobbed in last Friday and paddled straight out at north Tallow's where the water was fine, if a bit ramshackle. Caught a few then came in to see a pod of whales fully flying out of the ocean on their way north. Could they have been the same ones spotted just five days earlier off the 'bra? Considering that humpback whales can reach speeds of up to 27 kilometres an hour and Byron is 774 kms from Sydney....well, it's possible. Watched the leviathans round Australia's easternmost point from the iconic lighthouse as the sun set over the spectacular hinterland peaks.

Surfed deserted Seven Mile Beach for the next few days as the swell dropped off to next to nothing. But with days like this, fine food galore and friends to play with, what's there to complain about?

HELL (nipple rash)

Nude surfing is an art that very few people perfect. When Suze the Flooze tried in down at Yorkes Penninsular she was crying out for hell nipple rash.

It was this episode that sparked the idea for a video work by The Stoked, a Sydney based guerrilla collective that creates random acts of art, often provoked by other works of art. In this case, Tracey Moffatt’s Heaven provided the catalyst. Responding to the all male focus in Moffatt’s now classic 1997 film, The Stoked created a work in which the camera is trained on female surfers performing the same ritual as seen in Heaven, that of getting into and out of wetsuits in beach car parks.

In this perv-fest you can see radical professional surfer Amee Donohoe who was ranked 5th in the world last year. But don't expect the kind of flashy flesh jobs that are on display in Heaven. The chicks in Hell (Nipple Rash) are a lot more discrete having had years of practice avoiding the predatory male gaze as they suit up in public.

BTW Tracey Moffatt is giving a talk at the AGNSW this Friday at 6pm.

NEW BOARD EN ROUTE!

Nothing like a bit of public shaming to get some action on long overdue issues. I was asked for a contribution to this recent Tracks magazine article on the Webber brothers by middle sibling Monty. His older brother Greg had been promising me a board for years so I thought I'd remind him about it via the quote. No sooner had it hit the stands than I got a text; 'What dimensions?' So a 5'10" Fatburner is on it's way - hooray!!!

Greg and Monty made the amazing film 'Liquid Time' (2004) which was exhibited in 'Wax On'. It depicts what could very well be the most perfect waves ever seen on screen. But they’re only 30 centimetres high. Generated by Greg at the helm of a tinnie and shot by Monty with a boom-mounted lipstick camera, these “Microwaves”(as legendary surf cameraman George Greenough calls them) are breaking on the sandbanks of the Clarence River near the Webber family's spiritual home at Angourie.

Winner of the 2004 Cinematography Award at the Saint Jean de Luz Surf Film Festival, this short film features a chilled soundtrack from Tim “Love” Lee who gained fame as the keyboardist with ‘Katrina and the Waves’. Looking forward to their next cinematic outing.

DAY OUT OF TIME

Yesterday was this year's Day Out of Time according to the Mayan Calendar. Randy "Cosmic Hand" Bruner from 'It's About Time' on the Jewel Network (blogtalkradio.com) explains it like this; "Due to the nature of the 13 Moon 28 day calendar we are left with an extra day at the end of the year. 13 moons times 28 days gives us 364 days. So we’re left with an extra day. We refer to this day as “the Day Out of Time”. It is not a day of the week. It is not a day of the month. It is a Day Out of Time. However, it does have a spiritual value. It is a day in the 260 day sacred calendar of the Maya known as the Tzolkin."

It was "a great day for a picnic or a visit to your local sacred site or just gathering together with friends for a celebration of life", Randy said.

Unbeknownst to the White Resonant Mirror and I (Yellow Galactic Sun), we found ourselves high up on the cliffs at the Golf Course, north of Bondi Beach, beside some amazing carvings of whales, sharks and other marine creatures by the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We'd just come from surfing at Maroubra where we'd seen several southern right whales breaching not far offshore, leaping out of the ocean and plunging back down with gigantic splashes. We thought we might catch another sight of them from up here or maybe even see the full moon rise. Instead we spotted ten, twenty, fifty, eighty and then a hundred dolphins racing south along the coast towards us. As they came swirling to a halt right beneath us we realised that this awesome meg-pod was hunting down a school of huge fish - perhaps kingfish - that were leaping out of the water trying to avoid their jaws of death.

It was the sort of gobsmacking vision that we knew was going to be hard to describe to friends and family. Luckily the White Overtone Wizard called just as we spotted the pod, which seemed to stretch back all the way to South Head, so he knew our over excitement was for real. But my twin sisters (whose birthday it was), parents and nephews found it hard to comprehend when we met with them just 15 minutes later for an early dinner at the sublime Sean's Panaroma.

Only now as I research what was going on in the Mayan sense do I realise what I should've said to make myself perfectly clear. I was a galactic activation portal! "The new year in the 13 Moon Calendar is timed to coincide with a cosmic event. On July 26th the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, will rise with the sun".

Yellow Self-existing Star

I define in order to beautify

measuring art

I seal the store of elegance

with the self existing tone of form

I am guided by the power of flowering

I am a galactic activation portal… enter me

AVALOVE

Life is lovely living one hour north of the City of Sydney. Have extracted myself from the Eastern Suburbs for the first time in my life and am basically blissed out. Having surfed Bondi all these years it's delightful to explore all these gorgeous uncrowded breaks free from 'packer drop ins and runaway learner boards. Saw whales at Whale Beach and Guy Pearce at Warriewood. Wonderful!

PAM'S PORTRAIT

Abbey McCulloch was commissioned to paint this portrait of Aussie surf superstar Pam Burridge for Wax On and now the fab canvas is seeking a home. It's a rare opportunity for someone to have a full tilt legend watching over them and inspiring them into deeper barrels. So let the bidding begin!!

TARPING?!

PUBES

TETRIS TRIO

What to do with your spare grips? Here's an idea: turn them into stubby holders or mouse pads. Featured here is the tetris design grip recycled into new accessories for the discerning surfer. for the stubbie holder I used contact adhesive held together with bulldog clips for several hours. All it needs now is a base to stop the bottle falling through.

VARIATIONS ON BIKINI/BURQINI

Now that the weather's turned a little on the chilly side, it's time to rug up in something glamorous like the above outfit designed and modeled by Aheda Zanetti who invented the Burqini.

The Burqini (centre) was created to assist Muslim women who desire to be lifesavers or simply just enjoy the beach and is her answer to the bikini, consisting of a full length lycra suite with hijab head-covering. The outfit is not dissimilar to the stinger suit (top) one must wear snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef to protect oneself from fatal box jelly fish stings only baggier.

All outfits are also brilliant for summer too, to protect pale skin from the deadly uv rays.

http://www.womengateway.com/enwg/Women+Issues/burgini.htm

GREEN FINS

How super stoked am I to be testing out a prototype set of these new Green Flex Fins???

And I'm especially chuffed to have played a small role in their inception. Back in August 2005, I was hosting DFactory, a monthly design forum at the Powerhouse Museum, and one of our guests was the Global Marketing and Product Development Manager of Surf Hardware International, a company that had taken out that year's Australian Design Award with the H-2 surfboard fin.

Contact was made at the event with another DFactory guest from InterfaceFLOR, a carpet manufacturing company that aims to eliminate any negative impact that it may have on the environment by 2020. Together these companies have been working on extracting the nylon component from old carpets and using the resin-like material to make fins, diverting heaps of junk from landfills in the process.

While still in the trial phase, these Green Flex Fins are feeling mighty fine in my boards. Check out this link for more info:

http://www.surffcs.com/green/

TOUGH SHARK LOVE

They always get a bad rap but sharks rock. My bestie had a Fijian shark totem and he took his heritage to heart.
At the premiere of 'Australia', he crafted a shark outfit that rocked the red carpet to it's underfelt. The dinner shirt splattered with blood was a special touch.
His totem manifested into a stunning decoration last Christmas outside his Darlinghurst cafe FAB. Complete with a red nose, the gnarly beastie took the place of a reindeer and dragged a splayed Santa in 6inch heels on a boogie board sleigh for a wild and festive ride.

My soul mate, the white pointer shark, broke free into the void last month and is currently surfing the cosmic foam somewhere out there in the universe. Fear not his jaws of death. Protect his kind by adopting a shark instead. The Bondi Girls Surf Riders have one affectionately known as Schapelle. She brings members good karma in the surf.
Humans have decimated this mighty species by over 90% through shark finning, a crazy industry that wastes 75% of the animal in quest of what amounts to a carcenogenic cartiledge for a supposedly potent soup.
Help save the sharks and respect their habitat.
adoptashark.org.au
http://nccnsw.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=66&Itemid=596

Wax Off

As the Wax On works are removed from the gallery wall there's a certain sense of melancholia setting in. But, as the good Budd says, nothing is permanent. All things must pass. And so, with Captain Goodvibes 3D head safely bubble-wrapped in the back of my car, I'm heading down to Bondi to hand over our beloved mascot to its rightful owner.

David Elfick co-founded 'the surfer's bible' Tracks Magazine back in the early '70s and produced those seminal surf films 'Morning Of the Earth' and 'Crystal Voyager'. He kindly lent us the Pig of Steel's head for the duration of the show and today he'll take him back up to Palm Beach where he'll preside over the waves from his lookout in the old pink dance hall. Om Mani Pig Hum.

Phantasmagoriapsychosexmagia

With a title like this, you know that Rachel Scott is up to something big and complex. Seen here in a production still from her 10-minute black and white video, Scott conjurs up the sinister side of surf culture as she waxes on in her hoodie to a soundtrack that includes grabs from David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks'. The phrase: "I want you, I want you", whispers out from the background as she inexpertly applies wax to two old surfboards, messing up her long, painted fingernails in the process.

Scott purchased the boards online for just $45 and the experience of going to collect them from a dodgy dude in Bronte is described in a text based work displayed outside the darkened projection room. But this blog-like document from Sunday 22nd November, 2009, has also been coated with a thick layer of wax making it virtually impenetrable to the viewer. Likewise, another framed text recounting a dream in which she is waxing three surfboards given to her by her mother is obscured with black duck tape.

What I love about this work, apart from the tension that's created through a strange mixture of paranoia and humour, is the magic that's captured within the frame that Scott has set up for herself. Behind her there's always some action like guys surfing or waiting for their mates after coming out of the water. There's even a jogger who conveniently stops mid distance and checks his watch before moving on. And if you let your imagination run riot, you can even sense the presence of a shark patrolling the waters, scoping out the legs of the last man surfing.

FROM LITTLE THINGS...

Sydney-based artist Kendal Murray contains memories of idyllic beach holidays in objects like glass teapots and old compacts. Her works are seen here being unpacked by Exhibition Coordinator and chief curator Daniel Mudie Cunningham who leg-roped me into this gig in the first place and who alerted me to these gorgeous objects d'art when they were first exhibited at Arthouse Gallery last year.

In Wax On, Murray's miniatures are displayed on a plinth near Monty Webber's video work 'Liquid Time' - a dreamy vision of perhaps the most perfect waves ever found in the world. But you couldn't possibly ride them because they're only 30 cm high. Only Murray's little surfie dudes could take them on and reminisce about that sheer perfection for the rest of their tiny lives.

LITTLE PATTIE ROCKS WAX ON

What is Little Pattie's secret? Staying out of the sun, I guess. The recent Hall of Fame inductee looked dazzling at the opening of Wax On where she charmed the crowd of about 250 locals and blow-ins with stories of her beach-based youth before singing her legendary hit song 'He's My Blonde-Headed Stompie Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy'. I couldn't help hitting the dance floor with Pattie as she demonstrated the moves for our deep delectation. One serious old timer was also seen stepping out and busting a crusty move with us. Watch out for some retro steps tonight at the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Bondi Girls Surf Riders. Waverly bowlo may never be the same again!

STOKED

Totally felling the stoke after last night's opening of Wax On. Many of the artists were in attendance including Peter 'Beatle' Collins who rocked up the coast from his haven in Bermagui and spoke to the local rag 'The Leader' about his days shaping boards in the Shire. These days he works as a caretaker on architect Philip Cox's remote beachside property where he first started creating his amazing stick sculptures. Conjuring up the kinds of barrels he likes to get slotted into, these pieces of temporal land art have reached epic proportions. Pictured here is 'The Wave at Ma's', a 30m wide triple overhead monster made entirely of eucalypt sticks (no strings attached). Beautiful photos of this and other stick waves are on display alongside an early wire wave sculpture at Hazelhurst as of now!

He’s My Blonde-Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy

Chanting the chorus of the #55 top surf tune of all time, Nell's meditating surf life saver has magically managed to manifest the singer herself. Little Pattie OAM and recent inductee into the Hall of Fame has graciously agreed to open Wax On next Friday (Dec 4) at 6pm. She will also perform her famous hit for us wax heads before handing the reigns over to Jay Katz on the decks who promises to spin cheesy surf tunes late into the summer night.

Nell's amazing work will be on display and if you bring a magnifying glass you can marvel at the immaculate conception that is her vision of Aussie surf culture. Tracing the beaches of the east and west coasts down his arms you'll find stories of surfers who have been taken by sharks or just immortalised through their extraordinary aquatic actions. There are even some names of people who have done nothing more than enjoy themselves on a few waves. Who knows, maybe you're in there somewhere?

Abstract Expressionist Punk

Gold Coast surfing artist Reinhardt Dammn rides again, this time in Hobart with his band Honey Pump (http://www.criteriongallery.com.au). Alongside debauched record covers and posters are photos of urinals in Fortitude Valley - are they surf boards behind the waterfall?

With no formal training this young kamakaze blade is swathing a path to Wax On. The casting couch is open. Screen test, anyone?

Glazed Ladies

Taking up the challenge of addressing the history of women's surfing in Australia, Gerry Wedd has come up with this amazing vase featuring Isabel Letham - the first chick to pick up a stick back in December 1914. Plucked from the crowd by none other than the legendary Duke Kahanamoku, Isabel took to the waves at Sydney's Freshwater Beach and was "hooked for life". But the Manly Surf Club refused to give her membership because of her sex. We've come a long way, baby!

SURFING THE CLIMATE CHAOS

Jo Cuzzi calls herself variously "an undisciplined, multidisciplinary artist, a diorama drama queen, stencil slag, persistent painter, pornographic photographer, fake filmmaker, eclectic electronic experimentalist and incidental installation artist".

Lately she has been developing a couple of kooky characters called Horis and Doris who find themselves in all sorts of peculiar scenarios including bobbing about in tea-cups in shark infested waters made from recycled Sydney Ferries tickets. their adventures are like a collision between Reverse Garbage and Where The Wild Things Are.

For Wax On she's increased her usual pizza box diorama dimensions to almost life-size with an installation that sees her hapless duo surfing waves of Whale Sanctuary posters in front of a burning city made of big capitalist dollar bills. Horis is holding an incendiary match but the work also hints at the climate chaos that our developed lifestyles have ignited. When that tsunami rolls in, kids, you better get those boards out!

CLUBBY WANKERS OR FULL TILT LEGENDS?

Just reading an article from Surfing World (issue 290) entitled 'Surfy Scum VS Clubby Wankers' which details the long rivalry between the two sub-species of Aussie Beach Culture. When those red and yellow flags go up in front of prime surf breaks tensions flare and boards get confiscated - remember that choice stoush depicted in one of my all time favourite albatrosses 'Puberty Blues'?

This article by Jock Serong (!) quotes Colleen McGloin defining the surf lifesaver as representative of "authority, social regulation and white heterosexuality" whereas the surfer is the "symbolic larrikin". However Jock concludes that "the queasy Darwinian truth is: we grew from the same stock". He goes on to list someof the more heroic feats performed by those dudes in their kinky rescue belts and reels including a nude rescue at Coogee beach in 1911 by Harry Baker. He also cites the hit TV show Bondi Rescue and predicts an episode when one of those buff lifesavers will have "to give mouth to mouth to a huge queen in boyshorts". We await that inevitable eventuality with baited breath. 

COSMIC NUDE YOGA

Currently slam dunking the 'Wax On' catalogue and selecting some images to accompany the curator's essay; 'Feeling the Stoke'. Couldn't resist this page from 'The Best of Tracks' (exact date unknown because, according to the magazine's co-founder, everyone on the editorial team was too stoned to remember to print it!) - probably sometime in the mid '70s. The yogi in the lotus position seems to be manifesting Nell's meditating surf lifesaver which I went to see the other day. It's a gorgeous black and white painting of a seated figure with zinc lips and an ejaculating surfboard between its legs entitled  "He's My Blonde-Headed, Stomppie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy or Another Fucking Summer". Oh, for more ozone... 

MAGIC WAX

Just received a fabulous block of Barbary's Organic Magic Wax made from her very own honey bees down in Middleton, SA.

Barbary and I went to the Mentawai's last year and had a fab time surfing some seriously gnarly waves. We went out at KFC's after deciding not to surf Macca's due to over crowding by 8 boatloads of pretty determined guys. But a rogue set thoroughly wiped us out and as per this accurate representation of the incident I lost my board. Luckily I had a spare legrope but those suspicious floating particles that were being pumped out raw and macerated from the hulls of all those boats got into me had me laid up for a few days. 

Barbary reclaimed her dignity and powered on in style. She recently held a SALA Open Studio Event titled 'Surfing Isn't All I Think About' featuring some paintings of flaming pubes. And she's concocting a 'Wax On' cartoon for our delectation too in response to what she calls the purile macho rag that is Tracks.

She may even do some kids workshops during the holidays if we can lure her up to the Big Smoke.

VENUS DE GOULD

Spotted this fridge painted by Palm Beach based artist Bruce Gould in the Sayan region of Bali recently. Bruce is another cosmic Yellow House survivor and is responsible for many classic Mambo designs. Here he has created a vision splendid of a surfer dude who has ditched his board for a shell a la Botticelli's 'The Birth of Venus'.

HAZELBROOK TO HAZELHURST

Paid a visit to Fogg Hall in Hazel-brook yesterday where Ellis D and the Fogg tech support team were working on the infamous 'Wave Of Stoke' light installation (pictured). Mr Fogg introduced me to Rhiannnon, his young apprentice and showed me the tattooed wave on the nape of her neck which had inspired the light work. He also gave me a tour of his HQ which featured a wild collection of shoes from his days as a shoe fetishist and some classic Martin Sharp prints from the psychedelic Yellow House days.

Mr Sharp has played with waves himself - check out 'Babylon the great is fallen. Revelations 18 v2' (2000-2006). This work will feature in an exhibition at the Museum of Sydney opening Oct 31st but in the meantime, Ellis D is riding his own wave of illuminated success. He's off to India again tomorrow where he is being rediscovered as the light master that he is. And Hazelhurst Gallery will be mounting a show of his work in the gardens during Feburary.

Regarding the light in the centre of the barrel of his wave, he says it's "the cosmic eye" - or, as they used to say back in the '70s, "cos-fucking-mic!"

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Following a shout-out in the Shire News the gallery was besieged by locals offering up all sorts of memorabilia from much treasured surfing trophies to old planks with their original surf craft permits still attached! Yes, amazing though it seems to us today, there was a time when you had to pay for the privilege of paddling out. 

Graham Beetson from Heathcote (pictured below) still had his 1964/'65 permit stuck on the tail of his old Ron surfboard along with the actual receipt from the Sutherland Council for 34 pounds, which seems like an awful lot of money for those days, especially for "a factory second". 

Money is no object for Peter Sheil (above) who has an impressive collection of 35 vintage boards (the other 20 in the garage are for his own  personal use). The most valuable stick in his quiver is a 1963 balsa wood Mal, again with its original permit attached. Worth about 10k the board stays on the display rack in Peter's living room but over at Mark Riley's place in Miranda there are some excellent boards made of balsa wood on offer for a test ride. Mark uses recycled polystyrene sourced from Foamex in Reevesby, Sydney for his blanks then decks them out with thin sheets of light-as-a-feather balsa wood imported from Ecuador. I'm sold on their enviro cred so I'm taking one out for a ride next week. If all goes well, I'll be the proud owner of a brand new Wax On board.

ZINE AGE RIOT

Speaking of riots, Wax On artist (and Mambo dude) Paul McNeil is hosting a Zine Fair at his Sea Cell gallery at 41 Acacia St in the Byron Bay industrial estate this Saturday (8.8.2009) to coincide with the Byron Bay Writers Festival. They've installed a 9ft high ramp in the gallery space for kids to skate on - check out the pics on his website at http://www.seasurfboards.com/news.php

In fact, it was talk of this very zine fair back in January that prompted my to start this blog so thanks Paulie! Wish I was there for the ride.

In the meantime, we're dusting off the Hazelhurst billboards in preparation for your rockin' banners. Who said we couldn't post bills? 

SURF RIOT

Had a waxy meltdown the other night as I watched some work in progress by Gold Coast artist Scott Redford. Already onboard with his 2007 flashing neon light installation 'Surf Nauman: Surf/Riot in my handwriting' (pictured), Redford has raised the tow bar on the Wax On ute with a series of screen tests for a filmic piece about a young surfie artist dude he's invented named Reinhardt Dammn. 

As Redford says; "Reinhardt is an experiment in art to test the limit of current notions of originality and authorship." As screenwriter, set designer and co-director Redford shot

the footage  at Caloundra High School against a classroom  blackboard with a bunch of kids reciting the line 'I am Reinhardt Dammn'. Like the documentary 'Unmistaken Child', which followed a Tibetan Buddhist monk in search of the reincarnation of his master, it's perfectly clear when the real deal appears. He is the one we've been waiting for. With his salty sun bleached blonde hair encrusted in the shape of a wave over his forehead he stares at the camera unflinchingly, unlike the other kids who squirm and giggle and generally can't keep a straight face. This boy allows the viewer into his creative space as he seriously strums a dodgy guitar prop sprayed silver by Redford. And all the while a gorgeous teen babe wearing a singlet and mini-skirt draws the perfect wave in chalk on the blackboard. Bliss.

Hopefully we'll be able to screen some of this in the show alongside Redford's video performance entitled 'Dead Board 1 - 4' which had a very popular outing in Caloundra a while ago and features a variety of surfie boys and girls sawing old waterlogged boards in half, each one spray painted with the word 'DEAD' on it. There may even be a 'Dead Board 5' ready in time to accompany it.

UNLIMITED RADIANCE

I always wanted to have Nell's spectacular shimmering sequined work 'Unlimited Radiance' in the show. The massive piece recalls the logo for the classic surf flick  'Morning of the Earth' and seems to conjure up everything about the experience of bobbing about in the water as the sun either comes up or goes down - those meditative moments when nature is so phenomenal that it doesn't even matter if you get a wave or not. 

Sadly, the dimensions of the piece were simply too big for the Hazelhurst gallery space and we had to abandon the idea. Today I met with Nell in her Rushcutters Bay studio to discuss another concept that she's been tossing about, one that sits more comfortably with her current artistic pursuits. 

In her exhibition 'All The Way' which opened at Ros Oxley's Gallery last September, Nell explored her 3 practices of art, Zen meditation and yoga in a series of paintings which featured figures in the lotus position with various texts inscribed upon their skin. Expect to see an evolution of this yogi coming to a beach near you.

 

SHARING THE JOY

Saw this pic in the Bali Post and wanted to share the joy. Nice protest - shame about the board blocking the website.

Just Because He Surfs Doesn't Mean He Has A Brain

In The Australian last Friday the opposition spokesman on families and housing suggested that the public's concern about global warming was a fad and "that adapting to climate change may be more sensible than trying to create a largely carbon-free economy". 

Meanwhile, on the other side of this front page photo was a story about the port of Newcastle being all set to triple its annual output of coal to 300 million tonnes by 2015 - the very same year by which scientists are telling us we must stabilise the planet's temperature at 2 degrees centigrade. 

42 ships were pictured already anchored awaiting shipments, similar to the ones seen coming and going in Sarah Smuts Kennedy's old school animation 'Another Day In Paradise', currently on show at GBK, Waterloo. This work, which  will feature in 'Wax On', is being exhibited alongside her glazed and gilded coal nuggets which are elevated on delightful sculpted plinths, and her paintings including the gorgeous yet disturbing 'Quarry Vision'. 

Sarah and I are now off to the Liverpool Plains now to research 'COAL - The Musical'.

HEAVEN

What surf exhibition would be complete without 'Heaven' - Tracey Moffat's fab perv fest video compilation from 1997? The New York Times called it "A playful video that glories in the female gaze and objectification of man" - that man, of course, being Surfer Man caught in the midst of his everyday ritual of getting out of his black rubber wetsuit. Fetishised under Ms Moffatt's direction, this sub-species reveals itself to be quite willing to flash a bit of bum crack and even some saucily packed lunch.

Her latest video compilation 'Mother' is now on show at Ros Oxley's Gallery in Paddington, Sydney featuring classic clips of the mother/daughter relationship as depicted in movies such as 'Mommie Dearest' and 'Rabbit Proof Fence'.

Ms Moffatt also makes an appearance in Daniel Mudie Cunningham's new show at MOP Projects in Chippendale as part of his 'The Jodie Foster Archive'. Her letter to Daniel from 1996 about 'almost meeting Jodie' is pure fandom. Ms Foster was on location filming 'Silence of the Lambs' at the time so the encounter didn't happen but I'll try to find out if they've met since.

Daniel, by the way, is the Exhibition Coordinator and head Curator at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre where 'Wax On' will open on Dec 4, 2009.

THE SPICE ISLANDS

Fresh from the Spice Islands as I am has prompted me to introduce another Wax On artist, Tim Silver. I tried to get 'Full Rub', his excellent wax cast surfboard for the show (seen here impaled at MOP gallery in 2005) but the work has since melted. 

Instead, we've secured a series of five gorgeous and humorous photographs that hint at the irresistible lure of the South East Asian Archipelago as a mecca for surfers. Here's how Tim describes it:

"The process documents a Havianna thong, cast from cinnamon, set against a beach and documents it's demise against the incoming tide.  It's from a larger series called (coming round again), which featured other 

objects cast from other materials, such as Mace Sunglasses, Nutmeg Coke Cans, Ginger Croc Shoes and so on."

If only the real McCoy drift would smell so good and decompose so effortlessly!

The Plastic Wave

Back in Sydney after a very wild time in Timor Leste. Didn't take the board with me in the end because when I consulted with 

the President's Office staff they told me there was no surf in the country. From what I can gather it's all over in West Timor but I 

did feel as if I'd missed out as I watched all the surfers load up their sticks at Denpasar airport. Among them was Steve 

Ormandy from Dinosaur Designs who said he'd had some of the best surfing ever in Bali - and he's been there heaps over the 

decades I've known him.

Meanwhile I was hanging out with the inspirational Jose Ramos Horta driving in a massive convoy through the remote border districts

promoting peace and unity and generally trying to be a tourist in a place that's really not ready for tourism yet. 

Every Friday morning the Prez goes down to his local beach in Dili with all his staff and does a massive

clean up job, watched over by the beefy Portuguese United Nations Guarde National with their dark sunnies and security ear-pieces

marking them out from the crowd.

You could make a major installation from all the plastic that he and his posse collect each week in their efforts to inspire local pride

in place.

Liane Rossler (Steve's co-director of Dino Designs) sent me this link of a work by surfing artist Kathleen Egan from San Francisco's Ocean Beach

which highlights the issue of pollution in the waves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq0jXNq-lSY

SURFING THE CROSSFIRE

Went to check out a new group exhibition of ceramic work today called 'Crossfire'. My mission was to have a good squizz at ten tantilising tiles made by South Australian surfing artist Gerry Wedd. Each one features a cartoonish 'Sgraffito' image of a legendary surfer demonstrating their landmark manourves such as Snowy McAlister performing a headstand on his mal and Midget Farrelly on a wave with his arms thrown up in the air.
When I spoke with Gerry on the phone about getting some of these precious little gems into 'Wax On', he'd just come in from a surf at his local break and confessed that he was dripping salt water from every orifice. "I think they're art" he said of the tiles which are displayed in simple Ikea frames. I totally agree. See what you think of them at Legge Gallery 183 Regent Street Redfern until July 25 or on Gerry's own blog- Weddwould.blogspot.com

And speaking of Crossfire, I'm off to East Timor tomorrow to explore some new surf spots. Ah, the allure of the far out East.

Waxheads on canvas

The very first artwork secured for 'Wax On' was Adam Cullen's portrait of local Shire legend Mark Occhilupo. It was painted for the AGNSW's one-off 'Sporting Portrait Prize' back in 2000, the same year in which Cullen won the Archibald Prize with his painting of David Wenham (who, incidentally, I saw this morning in my local cafe while I was having a meeting with our catalogue designer David Corbet). Roy Slaven and HG Nelson  judged the Sporting Archie along with director Edmund Capon who later remarked that Cullen "probably painted his ... entry... with his own vomit and that it was, therefore, in the eyes of my sensitive colleagues, ineligible on technical grounds." 

We're thrilled to have been able to borrow the controversial work from the Australian National Maritime Museum for the show but I've always wanted to find a companion portrait of an outstanding female surfer to hang alongside it.

Today I spoke with Pam Burridge who won the World Title back in 1990 aged 25 and she's agreed to sit for the rockin' Gold Coast artist Abbey McCulloch next weekend! 

I remember surfing with Pam in a heat during the 1978 Pepsi-Golden Breed Pro Junior at Manly. Needless to say she ripped the bikini right off of me as she shredded her way to the top but we hooked up again later that year for the inaugural meeting of the NSW Branch of the Australian Womens Surfriders Association. I recall that she was nominated President and I was elected Treasurer but my 15 year old brain just wasn't up to the task of managing all that sponsorship so I bailed and went back to soul surfing.  

It's a blast to know that we'll be representing the chick that Tracks magazine dubbed " a fully stoked surf rat" and that Abbey, who's now been hung twice in the Archibald (with her portrait of Toni Collette in 2007 and this year with my mug as pictured) will do the honours. You can be assured it wont look like vomit!

TROPHY GIRL

Another surfing artist in the line up for 'Wax On' is Kylie Roberts,  former reigning champ of my own surf club, the Bondi Girls Surf Riders. Unlike Tony Amos who never shoots surfers cause he'd rather be out there surfing, Kylie's often got her camera focused on members and friends at the club's monthly comps. 

Over the years she's captured some classic sessions out of town too, including a sensational sunrise at The Farm, a favourite surf spot of BGSR members. For the exhibition Kylie plans to print an image of surfie chicks riding the liquid gold that morning on an aluminium surface for extra shimmer. 

She experimented with this format when she designed the club's 2006 trophies, two of which I count among my prized possessions. Conditions permitting, I'll be diving in for another crack at a gong this Saturday but the real winner, as usual, will be the one who has the most fun on the day.

BOARD MEETING

Hooked up with Tony Amos yesterday to discuss his plans for 'Wax On'. Tony has been surfing since he was 11 and shaping his own boards from the age of 14. He is also a terrific photographer working with medium and large format cameras and printing in his own darkroom underneath his house in Bronte. "Nothing is sacred and the rules are way out the window" is his mantra and he's applying it to his latest work - a hand-shaped surfboard coated with tie-dyed fibreglass and red onion skins. He's also making very cool light shades out of surfboard decks folded back around themselves to reveal the detail of his glassed in artwork which is hand-squirted on using plastic 'Nifty' bottles.

We decided to continue our meeting in the surf down at Maroubra which was running a decent ENE swell with an offshore WNW wind. Tony was seriously styling on one of his spunky little guns while I took a pounding on the sandbank. "Some days all you get is an adjustment," he reassured me afterwards in the carpark. And, indeed, my back feels a lot better for all the pummeling.  

Another interesting idea that Tony is proposing for someone to take up as a performance piece is 'Water-Boarding' where a big wave rider is strapped to a surfboard and subjected to the sort of high pressure water treatment inflicted on suspected terrorists in places like Abu Grahib prison in Bagdad. Any takers?

OUT OF THE DEPTHS

Three days after the winter solstice I was coaxed back into the surf by Richard Tognetti, the Artistic Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, who's just moved into a new home at Manly. We met at the southern end with his partner Satu and cellist Julian and all paddled out for a sparkling session in a fat but fun five foot offshore swell. Got the stoke back big time.

Went to see Richard and Julian play the Great Romantics at Angel Place that night and it was as if the ocean's energy was still pumping through their systems. 

Richard is a buddy of Tom Carroll who turns out to be a fan of Chopin and the like. He was at the concert too fresh from surfing endless long lefts out at Newport Point that day. We chatted afterwards about the notorious "spitting the winkle" episode that he'd recently exposed in the TV series 'Bombora'. For those who don't know what it is, it's when a surfer inserts a fire hose up his anus then squirts the contents over unsuspecting passers-by. Needless to say, alcohol is involved. Tom is off the booze himself and is looking fit as Richard's fiddle (which, incidentally, is valued at around $10 million). 

Also spotted at the concert was playwright Edward Albee (who wrote that classic drunken rant 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' and 'The Goat' amongst many others), and Tim Freedman who was squiring former first lady Margaret Whitlam. Tim is a keen surfer too and is heading up to his retreat at Broken Head soon to concentrate on composing more fine music. Looking forward to hearing it!

THE PROMENADE

We're always drawn to the sea, if not to surf then at least to promenade. And that's what Sarah Smuts Kennedy is exploring in her Wax On work - 'Another Day In Paradise'. Using old 35mm stock in her Nikon FM2 she's created a stop motion animation of people promenading along a breakwater jutting out into the Pacific Ocean at Nobby's Beach.

Among those who pass in front of her frame (fixed by a pole at her back) are fisherfolk, cyclists, families and boogie boarders. The surf isn't pumping but it keeps rolling in and breaking on the rocks, providing a bracing encounter with this force of nature.

The work also has a nostalgic quality, like viewing primitive film through a contraption in an old fashioned seaside fun park.

CRAVE THE WAVE

Met with Roger Foley the other day down at the Hazelhurst Gallery where he plans to resurrect the by now infamous 'Wave of Stoke' for 'Wax On'. It will be a 3 x 3 metre L.E.D. light wave rising up beside you as you enter the gallery and we want to source a soundscape to accompany it.

Roger also showed us his 10 page spread in the magazine 'Lighting India' where he writes about his approach to light. He also poses such heavy weight questions as 'What is ART?' and answers thus: "One of Australia's greatest living artists, Martin Sharp, once told me that - all art is erotic - meaning that if it does not turn you on and lift your spirits then it is not art. I agree. Munch notwithstanding."

Munch? Roger, please explain!