There is not a definition of art.
Art has to do with human skills, ideas, abstraction, nature and rapresentation of it, human feelings and emotions and last but not least has to do with an artist.
Human skills are necessary to make a piece of art.
Abstraction is needed (and only humans have it apparently) to transform an idea into something made of matter (materials).
An idea is needed otherwise there wouldn’t be anything.
And also nature is necessary: before Magritte art had only to do with representing nature in the most lifelike way.
After (and now) art had more to do with representation of ideas or concepts: the abstract art was born.
Emotions are necessary to interface someone’s thoughts and feelings with the piece of art.
The artist is the medium between all these concepts and the one that sees the piece of art.
And a piece of art has nothing to do with utility. It’s just something beautiful (or ugly, depends on who’s seeing it) and it cannot be used for something exept to generate feelings, emotions.
This is my opinion.
Now, surf art is more linked to the old way of seeing art. I often see paintings of landscapes, of waves.
These are representations of nature. Often they have all the above mentioned, but they always miss something. For example abstraction or maybe ideas.
I don’t want to be offensive to anyone, don’t take it personally: I see a lot of beautiful things but not always have all the requisites.
Boards are beautiful things, they can be painted, you may insert a nice drawind in the glass job, but they are surfboards first of all. They have a function. A good glassing is a good work by a kraftman, a nice outline is good to ride waves, a nice inlay or a beautiful color can add beauty to it, but has not to do with the surfboard: it’s something added, that could stand alone.
It’s a very long and difficult talk. It’s also very interesting, but right now I don’t have time to expand everything.
I’d be glad to discuss with you about in this thread.
Now, to answer the question what is surf art I respond with an artist’s name: Wolfgang Bloch. He’s got all the requisites I mentioned before.
Stefano
