Collection: Ben Cook : Surf Artist : West Cornwall

It was during the 1950’s that surfing first entered the consciousness of mainstream America, as a medium for young people to embrace coastal living, and the newfound freedom of post-war American society. This time of euphoria, experimentation and burgeoning industry gave rise to much of the popular culture, design and aesthetics that we continue to associate with West Coast USA to this day. 

However, over on the East Coast, it was New York that summed up the spirit of ‘New America’ through the support of, and subsequent fascination with, the art of the Abstract Expressionist painters.

If, as an artist I could choose to live in another time, it would be in New York in the early 1950’s, pushing the boundaries of abstract painting in a Chelsea loft apartment by day, and drinking in a downtown jazz bar with Jackson at night. If given the same choice as a surfer, it would be California in the same era, surfing empty point breaks on a balsa log with the lucky few, yet to be touched by surfing’s imminent commercialisation.   

The Wax Work paintings exhibited here, explore the notion that the practice, mythology and nostalgia surrounding surfing and Abstract Expressionist painting (and perhaps Jazz music) are somehow linked. At the same time they offer a solution to how a contemporary surf artist might make a response to the tradition of landscape painting in West Cornwall.