THE ARTISTS
CAMERON CALDERON is a self-taught artist and Southern California native. Working primarily in acrylic, his travels through California and Mexico define his work. Subtle gradients, bright colors and contrasting lines are his principle tools. As a surfer, mechanic and artist, Cameron takes a large quantity of inspiration from the Southern California lifestyle.
Instagram: @suenos_sitios
I was fortunate to combine my two favorite passions of surfing and acting in a couple of Hollywood films that unexpectedly went on to become cult classics in the surfing world. We filmed "North Shore" on location, with actors and extras from that small but powerful community known worldwide as the mecca of the surfing world. The film grew in popularity with VHS and cable, and by 2020 has become one of the most popular films for surfers all over the world. Artist Cameron Calderon has created many beautiful paintings depicting how the ocean meets the land. But for me, his interpretations of iconic scenes from the movie "North Shore", have struck a gratitude bone in me that makes my past smash into my present with great pleasure! ~ John Philbin, Curator
Born to a family of wildly creative artists in Mexico City in 1957, ZEN DEL RIO cut his teeth on drawing, painting and ceramic tile under the tutelage of his mother, master painter and designer Gemma Taccogna. At the age of nine, Zen and his family relocated to Palos Verdes California, where surfing became as much part of his life as art. Zen spent most of his youth working in Gemma’s studio and going on surfing adventures to exotic locales.
ZenDelRio.com
I grew up and started surfing along the rocky shorelines of Palos Verdes. My mother studied art with Zen’s mother Gemma. My Mom's life was greatly enriched by their times spent together. Gemma’s son Zen became a stand out, legendary, big wave surfer from our tiny local community. He would travel to exotic locales and return with epic tales of his trips to mysto surf spots. He also became an artist and an art teacher. All surfers dream of travelling to exotic secret spots with perfect waves. If we are lucky, we get to travel and make our dreams come true. Zen combines his unique and finely honed craft to bring his rich life experiences to his work on the canvas and the page. ~ John Philbin, Curator
DAMIAN FULTON grew up riding his Schwinn Stingray to Huntington Beach back when "Surf City" was way more Gotham than groovy. Out of the OC and into L.A., he created surf posters for OP and counterculture comic strips like the "Shred Brothers" for Surfer Publications and the original action sports classic, "Radical Rick" in BMX Plus! Magazine. Dubbed “the Quentin Tarantino of surf artists”, his L.A. inspired urban surf art is characterized by gritty thought-provoking narratives and a rich painterly style that's distinctly personal yet uniquely accessible.
DamianFultonArt.com
Twitter
Instagram @damianfulton
When I first saw Damian Fulton’s "Cacophony in Sea Minor" it changed me, and it changed my appreciation of what an artist could do for me. After growing up in the suburbs of the South Bay of Los Angeles, I moved to the city and quickly became urbanized. But I always returned to the ocean to pursue my love of surfing. As times changed and huge crowds flooded the coast and the line-ups of Los Angeles, it became virtually impossible to avoid the confluence of urban blight with surfing culture. Damian brings his immense talent and skill and vivid imagination and humor to create worlds on canvas of fantasy and reality dueling for my attention. I can personally identify with every image he juxtaposes in these paintings. From riding motorcycles, to shooting guns, to fighting in the surf, to a love of monsters and a fear of tsunamis. The smokestacks I’ve surfed between, the beautiful women and the combination of Hollywood’s influence into the surfing culture of Southern California—I just can’t get enough of it. ~ John Philbin, Curator
As a prolific street artist based in Venice, California, JULES MUCK has earned a loyal following and sparked plenty of controversy with her playfully irreverent murals. The artist started doing graffiti in Europe and Great Britain twenty years ago. Muck began bombing in New York in the late 90s and has not stopped painting. Today, she travels the world, paint-ready.
Jules Muck at the Gabba Gallery, Los Angeles
After living in Hollywood for 15 years, I moved back to the coast, the Westside of Los Angeles. I discovered the art of Muck Rock on the streets of Venice and Santa Monica, and felt so lucky to stumble across these gems of humor and street art. I consider it neighborhood enhancement. I met Muck Rock, aka Jules Muck, once at a party and was struck by how cool and unpretentious she was for such a prolific artist. I’m always looking forward to finding a new work from her and I am grateful for her sense of humor and appreciation for pop culture perfectly placed on walls, houses and public structures all over this great city. ~ John Philbin, Curator
World War I veteran, OTIS "SHEP" SHEPARD was a stellar American designer and illustrator, prominent in the Twenties through the Sixties. Alongside his designer wife Dorothy, the Shepards were innovators for chewing gum giant Wrigley, the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field and Wrigley’s very own Catalina Island.
The Paris Review: Shep and Dorothy
I met Gordy Grundy while attending the USC School of Performing Arts. I was studying acting in their Bachelor of Fine Arts Theatre Program. We stayed in touch 'cuz he was the coolest, artsiest guy I'd met at USC. After graduating, I started working as an actor in Hollywood and for the first time ever. I had a little money to spend on art. He had found this print of Avalon Harbor on Catalina Island, commissioned by the Wrigley Chewing Gum Company as an advertisement for tourists to visit the island. I immediately identified with everything about it, having visited the island for many a magical time in my youth. I bought it, framed it and hung it on my wall, in 6 different apartments, and a condo I’ve lived in, all over Los Angeles for 35 years. I lost the Catalina print to the Malibu Fires of 2018. I’ve imagined the lives of every person in that picture and never got tired of looking at that familiar life in Avalon. The Elmo poster on the church wall, the angle and height of the mountains, the trees and the ocean are all familiar elements of my environment. ~ John Philbin, Curator
DEREK WEST is an oil painter from the Central Valley, California. He has been painting for twenty years and mainly focuses on themes involving nostalgia. His paintings typically showcase what he enjoyed about growing up in the 80’s and 90’s in California often referencing music, film, television, products, fashion, and culture, as well as regional landscapes, plants, and wildlife.
Instagram @derekwestart
The work of Derek West presents the pop culture iconography from my life, the kind Andy Warhol was famous for. I am honored, surprised, amused and grateful to see my image included with those that shaped my life in the 70's and 80's. If one of the themes of this show is how these works personally make me happy, well, I can't deny the rush of appreciation I feel when I see an image of myself that is designed to bring happiness to others. ~ John Philbin, Curator
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Born in California, JOHN PHILBIN grew up surfing the rocky shorelines of Palos Verdes. He attended UCSB for six quarters then transferred to USC to graduate with a BFA in Performing Arts.
John has appeared in over fifty Hollywood films and television shows and has travelled the world for work and for surf.
John has survived a tsunami, which destroyed G-Land Surf Camp in 1994, and the Woolsey Fire which destroyed his home and everything he owned in 2018.
Living his best life now in Topanga, John continues to perform in films and he teaches surfing in Malibu and around the world. Visit his website at ProSurfInstruction.com
Read the Epic Interview!
Firestorms, Tsumanis, Big Waves and Kate Bosworth!
THE LONG WILD RIDE of JOHN PHILBIN
SURFER, ACTOR AND NOW, ART CURATOR
GORDY GRUNDY is the producer of the Galerie du Coeur
ZEN DEL RIO
