John Severson's SURF - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 8862083262 ISBN 13: 9788862083263

Publisher: Damiani/PUKA PUKA, 2014

Synopsis

John Severson (born 1933) revolutionized pop culture's vision of surfing and surf culture through his prolific artistic output that transverses decades and disciplines. He began his career as a painter, selling his canvases at Long Beach State College. These first works consisted of oil paintings, photographs, drawings and prints relating to Hawaiian and Californian surf culture. In 1958, Severson expanded his repertoire and created a series of popular surf movies, such as Surf Safari, Surf Fever, Big Wednesday and Pacific Vibrations. While his were among the first surf movies, it was the posters associated with them, hugely popular when issued in the 1950s and 1960s, that remain collector favorites today. Showcased in these early posters, his graphic skills translated easily to Surfer magazine, which he founded in 1960. The magazine was the first to celebrate and revolutionize the art and sport of surfing, establishing it as a powerful pop culture phenomenon. The first issue was a 36-page collection of black-and-white photos, cartoon sketches and short articles--every aspect of which was created by Severson himself. His photographs appeared in Life, Sports Illustrated, Paris Match and other print venues. John Severson's SURF explores Severson's surf odyssey through painting, photography, film and publishing. Featuring an interview with the artist by Nathan Howe, artist and curator at Puka Puka, Hawaii, foreword by Gerry Lopez, surfer and co-founder of Lightning Bolt surfboards and afterword by Drew Kampion, author and former editor of Surfer, John Severson's SURF documents the birth of surf culture and serves as a testament to our ocean.

About this title

About the Author

Born in Los Angeles in 1933, John Severson led the idyllic beach boy life by the ocean in San Clemente where he discovered surfing. In high school, he experimented with photography and produced his first surf images with a camera in a plastic bag. He graduated from Long Beach State (M. A.) where he initiated the first surf culture paintings and the Surf Art genre. Drafted into the U.S. Army in '56, he was stationed in Oahu and assigned to the Army Surf Team. In Hawaii, he surfed at Sunset Beach and Makaha and completed his first film, Surf (1958). Severson followed with seven films, including Surf Safari (1959), Surf Fever (1960), and the original Big Wednesday (1961). In 1960, Severson founded SURFER Magazine showcasing his iconic black and white photography and typography. Attracting immediate acclaim, the magazine became the voice of the sport. An innovative performer in big surf, he won The Peru International Surf Contest in 1961. Severson authored two books for Doubleday, Modern Surfing (1963) and Great Surfing (1968), and was featured in LIFE in 1968. In '69, he produced his final feature length surf film, Pacific Vibrations (1970), originally released by American International Pictures and remastered in HD by MGM in 2010. His photography has been published worldwide, most notably in LIFE, Stern Germany, Sports Illustrated and SURFER. In '71, after eleven years as editor and publisher, Severson left SURFER and moved his family to Maui to paint, surf and return to the land. In the mid seventies, he traveled through the Pacific for a year and built a tree house where the family lived for two months. In the eighties, he helped launch Wind Surf magazine. For two decades, Kahala Sportswear has commissioned Severson to design textiles for Aloha shirts. He then authored Surf Fever (2004) for Surfer's Journal. Severson's recent solo exhibitions include The Surf Gallery in Laguna Beach (2003, 2004, 2006, 2008), Colette in Paris (2005) and Puka Puka in Hawaii (2009, 2013). In 2011, John Severson was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the SURFER Magazine Poll. In '59, he married the artist Louise Stier, with whom he has two daughters, Jenna and Anna. Severson lives and works in Maui, Hawaii.

Review

John Severson has been documenting surfers in America for over 50 years. As the founder of Surfer Magazine, he's seen the sport go from an "outlaw" adventure banned by local townships to a multimillion dollar industry. While early American surfers might have trouble finding a partner to ride the waves, the biggest problem now is finding a clear patch of surf. He has published his photographers and original artwork in a new book, John Severson's Surf. (Bill McKenna BBC)

"John Severson's Surf" is a book that presents the languid-meets-extreme-thrills lifestyle of surfing through paintings and vivid photography.

Presented mainly through Mr. Severson's paintings and photography, the book serves a dual purpose as a celebration of a Zeilg-like life to envy and as an implicit slap across the cheek of those status-conscious, white-collar elements that are getting ever fresher in their advances upon the wave-riding lifestyle that he helped start back in the 1950's. (Jim Rutenberg The New York Times, Styles Section)

Edition details

• Publisher: Damiani/PUKA PUKA
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 8862083262
• ISBN 13: 9788862083263
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 212